Intimidating kids hanging around
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CBRoad
Posts: 17
Joined: Dec 2007
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10-06-2008 01:19 PM
I?ve got to the end of my tether and I was hoping the good people of SE23 could help me. Last summer a group of teenagers started hanging around the front of my house. It started off a group of 2 or 3 but as the summer progressed the crowd got bigger and bigger as more of their mates joined in. I was never worried about asking them to move on and most of the time they said sorry and off they went (although they would come back the next night and we would do it all over again). To cut a long story short, as the winter months moved on so did the kids (too cold for the little darlings).
Last night just as I was dropping off I was woken by the tinny sounds of music on a mobile phone followed by big booming voices. These kids have grown huge (assuming it is the same kids) and I?m not comfortable confronting them anymore, especially as I have little ones in the house now.
As far as I can see they are not doing anything illegal but this is only the beginning of summer and I don?t want to spend this summer dreading the time it gets dark just in case they turn up.
Any ideas who I would need to contact. I don?t want to dial 999 every time they turn up but would like to have the area patrolled regularly (if there is such a thing). Has anyone else had similar experiences?
Any help would be very much appreciated
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robwinton
Posts: 335
Joined: Jun 2006
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10-06-2008 01:34 PM
probably worth talking to the local PCSO or the Safer Neighbourhoods scheme
which ward do you live in? I know a few of the Perry Vale tem and they are very helpful
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Sherwood
Posts: 1,416
Joined: Mar 2005
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10-06-2008 02:01 PM
Put manure in your front garden!
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nevermodern
Posts: 653
Joined: Feb 2007
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brian
Posts: 2,002
Joined: Apr 2005
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10-06-2008 03:09 PM
I fully appreciate your proble and have had something similar myself.
If they are playing ( music ) which you can hear in the house then surely an offence.
I agree speak to the Police and ask their advice and perhaps they can arrange for an officer to pass your house to speak to them
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nevermodern
Posts: 653
Joined: Feb 2007
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10-06-2008 03:20 PM
I think police can move groups of more than two people on for no reason these days anyway if they want to.
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billham
Posts: 115
Joined: Nov 2007
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10-06-2008 03:52 PM
Hi CB
You are not alone, and I fully sympathise with your position.
We have had a lot of similar problems in the last year in the flats where I live. We do have the advantage that the land is private property, but it has been difficult to get the police very interested since (by and large) no lasting damage is done. However, it is undoubtedly intimidating to have half a dozen or more youths congregating and smoking dubious substances, particularly since on occasion they have been in stairwells where the noise reverbarates.
For the moment we seem to be largely free of it, apart from the odd infiltration. I did speak to a few of them one sunny day when I felt less threatened and tried to explain the error of their ways without sounding too patronising. They tried to be cheeky but really were fairly harmless and retracted as soon as challenged. I think the problem is that as the groups grow larger, bravado creeps in and the dynamic changes. Although I am a fairly large character I wouldn't directly challenge a group of any size, especially not after dark.
We considered options like putting gates on the drive, but none of us really wants to live in a prison, aside from the hassle of letting valid visitors, postman, binmen etc in. We also spoke to the Safer Neigbourhood team who did patrol a few times but by their own admission were very overstretched. The basic position seemed to be that if we thought a few lads was bad we should try Deptford of a Friday night! We were however told that we should make a point of all phoning the police to report incidents as that will help escalate things. However overall my experience so far is that the police rarely respond, although plenty adminstrative staff phone asking your ethicity and religion!
On the one occasion we finally managed to get the police here a number were taken away for the drugs in their possession and it has been better since then. However, I guess in the end it is rather like moving a flock of birds...they will simply 'roost' elsewhere and I am sorry that at present it is outside your house!
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bigbadwolf
Posts: 100
Joined: Jan 2008
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11-06-2008 09:11 AM
I fully agree with Billham in that if you go over to them and start making an issue of it then you will escalate matters further because they've got a reaction which is the seed planted because now they'll have a focus to vent their anger and boredom at. If they're smoking cannabis then they're probably going to be alot more amiable than a load of England fans in a foreign city trashing the place so in that respect you're getting off lightly. There is however a fine line between tolerating it and being made a prisoner in your own home, a friend of mine suffered exactly the same problem. She decided along with other residence to play music that she knew the pests outside wouldn't like (hoodies don't like classical music or opera) and after a few nights of her taste being ridiculed they eventually moved on.
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mulberry
Posts: 1
Joined: Dec 2007
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nevermodern
Posts: 653
Joined: Feb 2007
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11-06-2008 01:51 PM
101 is a great idea. How many times have you seen something happening around London and wanted to report it, but you don't know who to call? It's not an emergency so you know 999 is innappropriate, but you have no idea who to contact. As the article says, 101 was piloted by the goverment in Hampshire, but central government funding has bizarrely now been withdrawn. However, the council are so impressed that they've decided to fund the service for another year out of their coffers.
It would be great if Boris could get this going.
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Elizabeth25
Posts: 212
Joined: Mar 2005
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11-06-2008 05:17 PM
101 is a great idea. A couple of summers ago, when it was really hot. There used to be a large group of kids who hung out on their bikes on our street from between midnight and 2:00 am.
Again, they weren't doing anything particularly illegal, except being annoying teenagers too late at night in the summer when everyone has their windows opened.
We did call the local police station, but we didn't get much of a response. All we wanted was for a squad car to just ride by and break up the midnight bike festival, but since we couldn?t report any vandalism or visible drinking or drug taking, they didn't seem that concerned. I guess the police are understaffed. The police never showed up, and the kids left the area on their own.
It can be an intimidating. Should you walk up to a group of teenage boys in your dressing gown at 1:00 am. Or shout out your window, and maybe expect a rock through your window as a response.
A non-emergency police response number would be a good idea.
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steveb
Posts: 113
Joined: Nov 2007
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12-06-2008 08:38 AM
I don't understand why you expected the police to do anything when no crime is being commited. What grounds would they have to act on?
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Londondrz
Posts: 1,538
Joined: Apr 2006
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12-06-2008 09:11 AM
Send them over to Steveb's home, he doesnt mind
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Elizabeth25
Posts: 212
Joined: Mar 2005
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12-06-2008 09:14 AM
I was expecting the kids to be arrested. When you have 20 to 30 (yes!) teenagers riding around on their bikes, playing music and yelling and screaming, at 1:00 am, in the summer when everyones' windows are open, it would be helpful to just have the police do a drive by and tell the kids it may be a good time to go home.
It is called living in a community. We obviously don't live in a world where any of these kids parents care where their 15 year olds are in the middle of the night.
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Elizabeth25
Posts: 212
Joined: Mar 2005
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12-06-2008 09:15 AM
I meant to say I WASN'T expecting these kids to be arrested. I hit reply too fast.
I was just a little annoyed. I wonder if the last poster has ever been woken up in the middle of the night by street bike festivals.
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Londondrz
Posts: 1,538
Joined: Apr 2006
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12-06-2008 09:18 AM
No I wasnt woken up I was there
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brian
Posts: 2,002
Joined: Apr 2005
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12-06-2008 09:37 AM
Elizabeth you are quite correct.
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nevermodern
Posts: 653
Joined: Feb 2007
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12-06-2008 02:29 PM
as I said a few posts ago, the police don't need 'grounds to act on'. They can creat a 'dispersal zone' and move the kids on anyway, regardless of any offence being commited.
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Sherwood
Posts: 1,416
Joined: Mar 2005
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12-06-2008 04:18 PM
remeber Dixon of Dock Green?
"Move along now, please."
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brian
Posts: 2,002
Joined: Apr 2005
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12-06-2008 05:06 PM
Yes good old George Dixon. One thing I recall that the captured crims always said < thats a fair cop Mr Dixon >. . Of course that might happen today as well.
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