Sandy 4 St Albans

Local residents in St Albans and the villages will resonate with today’s strong criticism by the chief inspector of constabulary  of the way that police in England and Wales deal with complaints of anti-social behaviour.

At the time of writing I have not seen his individual “report card” for Hertfordshire because it has not yet been posted on the HMIC website.  But I am constantly told of people’s frustration with the way that a small minority of young people make life miserable for others.

Last night I went with Catherine Barron, our dynamic candidate for Verulam ward, to a meeting at the British Legion in Verulam Road organised by residents of New England Street.  It had been called to discuss constant problems of vandalism, low level abuse and sometimes quite threatening behaviour by young people who congregate at “The Brickie”, the apparently pleasant sunken bowl of green space which lies between Mount Pleasant and Verulam Road.

Children and parents are sometimes put off from using the playspace, the language used by some of the offending young people is apparently appalling, and there is occasional disgusting graffiti.

It’s a story which is repeated across the UK on the basis of this morning’s Report.  Certainly I can vouch for similar problems in my own village.

There is a role here for parents and for schools.  But chiefly we need more police on the ground.  The local beat bobby and PCSO were both present last night – but they have a huge area to cover and they cannot work 24/7.

The Liberal Democrats are the only party to have costed plans for more police back on the beat – sadly the current public expenditure crisis means we have had to scale back our ambitions, but we still want to put a flag in the ground, that the public pays for the right to occupy their homes and streets and play areas without feeling vulnerable and threatened.