People 'have given up' reporting town troublemakers

People in a town have given up reporting anti-social behaviour to the police because "nothing ever happens", residents say.

East Redcar Residents Association (ERRA) chair Paul White said vandalism, litter and drug-taking in the area's parks and cemetery had increased, but enforcement and investment had not matched it.

White said people needed to get their "mojo back" and tell authorities, saying: "Our only way to get change is to get back to reporting in a more formal way."

Cleveland Police said reports helped them "build a picture" and direct resources, while Redcar and Cleveland Council said more patrols had been arranged in the area.

ERRA, Friends of Redcar Cemetery and Friends of Borough Park and Zetland Parks met with police and the Labour-led council last week and discussed issues including vandalism in the cemetery, littering, teenagers drinking and smoking cannabis and the gates not being locked.

Liberal Democrat councillor for Zetland and ERRA secretary Alison Barnes said there was "unfortunately a minority who create an awful lot of damage".

"Broken glasses, smoking cannabis, graffiti, on a number of occasions the toilets have been absolutely destroyed by fire," she listed.

White said the police and council needed to understand the seriousness of the issues in areas like Zetland Park, where offensive graffiti regularly appears on the toilets.

"It just seems to be getting worse, quicker, at the moment which is worrying," he said.

"There's a bit of a catch-22, the public have given up reporting because nothing ever happens, but our only way to get change is to get back to reporting in a more formal way."

He said enforcement was in "serious crisis" as there were fewer police officers to deter offenders.

"If we report it every day for a month, just to swamp the police with incidents, if we can start doing that again and get our mojo back, that's the only way to get more funding and extra officers," White said.

• If anti-social behaviour is falling, why does it feel like such a problem?

Cleveland Police said it had drawn up a plan in response to the meeting, which included extra police patrols at times where anti-social behaviour was worse.

Neighbourhoods Inspector Neil Deluce encouraged residents to report using 101, online or at drop-in sessions.

"If we know it's happening, we can do something about it," he said.

The council said it regularly removed graffiti which was reported to them and had installed CCTV at Zetland Park.

It added arrangements had been made for parks to be locked overnight and for more community enforcement team patrols.

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