Parents warned over youngsters' anti-social acts; EVICTION THREATS FOLLOW SPATE OF INCIDENTS.
Byline: KALI LINDSAY Reporter [email protected] @KALIALINDSAYA GLASS bottle thrown at a woman's head and rocks being chucked at cars are just some of the shocking antisocial behaviour incidents involving young people in North Tyneside.
Now, parents have been warned that they must know what their children are doing - or they could suffer the consequences.
The measure is one in a series of steps that could be taken by North Tyneside Council and Northumbria Police who are working together to tackle the problem in the Killingworth and Forest Hall areas.
It comes after a string of incidents, which included a woman being hit with a bottle in Lakeside Park.
In a bid to tackle the problem, police and council officers visited 18 homes in the area to hand parents enforcement letters, which included telling them they could be evicted or that their child had been involved in a recent incident.
If they come voluntary then they arrested Sergeant Sgt James Brady, of Killingworth Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: "It has been going on for a little while and we have been trying to work in partnership with the council to try and tackle those issues, so what we have done is visit a number of addresses of those who have been identified and the council are issuing notices to the address in relation to the behaviour that has been going on.
"In relation to that, we are also investigating a number of anti-social behaviour incidents that have occurred. My team are interviewing juveniles who are voluntary attenders out of some of those incidents."
As part of Operation Harmony, officers knocked on doors of houses in the area, with some parents refusing to speak, while others were more receptive - one asked the officers to speak directly to their child.
It comes as officers target areas on Friday and Saturday nights that are known for anti-social behaviour, including Lakeside Park, Springfield Park, Wideopen and Seaton Burn. Sgt Brady added: "At the moment, the problem we have is huge groups that are gathering and it is intimidating to the public and we are trying to educate some of the kids that, you know, just hanging around alone is intimidating to the public, to try to get the picture themselves, if that was their grandma what would they feel.
"It's a bit about education, but it is getting to the point where we are having to do a lot more of the enforcement side of things, with voluntary attending interviewing people, who have been identified for anti-social behaviour.
"If they refuse to come in as a voluntary attender then they will be arrested.
"They will be dealt with appropriately through the youth offending team and if necessary through the courts but ideally we want to keep the children away from going to the court."
refuse to in as a attender will be arrested James Brady " North Tyneside Council has also increased patrols over the weekend and have used a CCTV van in a bid to catch perpetrators.
Richie Mitchell, community and public space protection manager, said: "Council residents in particular are getting visited, so if they have been causing any disorder, or any members of the household have, we have joined forces with the police in terms of looking at enforcement tools to tackle that. "It can include tenancy action which can result in people being evicted from their homes for the behaviour of their children and also be injunctions, closure orders - we have various different powers.
"We can also look at parent orders because a key part of this is understanding that they have a role in making sure they know what their child is doing on a Friday and Saturday night when this disorder is taking place."
of Killingworth Neighbourhood "It for we to of been council to the address "They will appropriately youth and but to over have in a bid t"If they refuse to come in as a voluntary attender then they will be arrested. Sergeant James Brady
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Police and North Tyneside Council visiting homes in and around Killingworth as part of Operation Harmony
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