ENOUGH is, quite frankly, enough. The public order crime currently being committed on a regular basis on the streets of St Helier by gangs of unruly and often drunken children must stop.

Frequently, members of the general public can be guilty of over-reaction if they witness single instances of fighting, drunkenness or vandalism, imagining that this is general rather than evidence of a limited problem. At present, however, official figures released by the police indicate that disorder in town has quite genuinely increased by a dramatic margin over a short period.

This disorder, moreover, involves teenagers, many of them far too young to be out on their own late at night irrespective of the standard of their conduct. Unfortunately, the tender age of these young criminals does not make them any the less street-wise. They appear to be aware that the law has limited scope when it comes to dealing with them – to the extent that some St Helier traders have dubbed them ‘the untouchables’.

There are, of course, arrests, but Islanders will be more interested in prevention than action after the event. Steps have certainly been taken in this direction, the police having stepped up patrols in the evening and at weekends.

Club owner Martin Sayers blames the Island’s ‘failing political system’ for the juvenile crime wave, but that supposes a very long chain of cause and effect. There is no doubt some link between the political background and social problems, but, as Mr Sayers concedes, it is necessary to look at how parents manage their children as well as any potential failures of law and order policy.

We are talking here of 14- and 15-year-olds, young people still at an age when parental supervision is not merely desirable but essential. If parents cannot answer two simple questions – where is your child tonight and what is he or she doing? – they are quite clearly failing in their duty.

It is statistically true that a great many youngsters who cross the line in terms of behaviour at an early age eventually work their aggression and anti-social tendencies out of their systems. That said, the more the St Helier gangs are allowed to get away with, the more they are likely to hold law and order in contempt. Now is therefore the time for urgent action to nip this growing and entirely unacceptable trend in the bud.