BELFAST: Warning letters for parents of anti-social teens

Warning letters for parents of anti-social teens

Belfast City Council has begun issuing warning letters to the parents of teenagers involved in anti-social behaviour in public parks.

The council has spent the last few months studying anti-social behaviour in eight areas across the city, targeted as part of a pilot project, and developing ways of combating the problems.

This work has included developing clear reporting procedures, which are giving people who use the parks and open spaces confidence about coming forward.

"In the past, I think there was a certain reluctance by people to report anti-social behaviour, especially in parks - they just shrugged it off as a fact of life," commented Laura Hamill, who is co-ordinating the council's pilot project.

"However, since the project started, we have noticed an increase in the number of people coming forward and saying 'enough is enough' - because they know we are taking action to combat the problem.

"And those engaged in the anti-social behaviour know that we are going to catch them and deal with them," said Laura.

With the majority of anti-social activities - such as drinking and vandalism - carried out by teenagers, the council has begun issuing warning letters to the parents of those involved, with the promise that further action will be taken if their children are caught again.

"The most common way in which people are reporting anti-social behaviour is actually by talking to our staff on the ground.

"The staff complete incident reports and feed these back to their managers. We then deal with the problem, in conjunction with other appropriate agencies, such as the police," explained Laura.

Over the summer months, the council and PSNI undertook a number of high visibility exercises in parks and open spaces across the city, aimed particularly at tackling underage drinking, and these operations will continue. In consultation with local community groups, action plans for dealing with anti-social behaviour in each of the areas subject to the pilot scheme are being drawn up, with a view to getting communities involved in tackling the problems, as well as looking at innovative ways - such as 'Design Out Crime' schemes - of addressing them.

"These problems cannot be addressed by the council and other statutory agencies alone - we need the support and co-operation of the communities involved," said Laura.

The pilot scheme covers eight areas - Avoniel Park and Leisure Centre, Ballysillan Park and Leisure Centre, Dunville Park/Falls Leisure Centre/Clonard, Orangefield Park, Ormeau Park, the Waterworks, Whiterock Leisure Centre/Falls Park/City Cemetery, and Woodvale Park.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/article3019103.ece