From Jane and Chris Gilley.
WE are sick and tired of acts of vandalism committed by youngsters the law cannot touch.
From Jane and Chris Gilley.
WE are sick and tired of acts of vandalism committed by youngsters the law cannot touch.

I’m sure the States of Jersey would be horrified to receive bills from disgruntled Islanders in respect of their damaged cars and property, so why doesn’t anyone do something about it?

These incidents mainly happen on weekend evenings anywhere from early evening to four or five in the morning, when youngsters should be off the streets! From the police’s point of view it is a problem which is difficult to deal with because there is no law in place to stop and retain these hooligans.

But frankly what is the point of Crimestoppers if, as far as these under-agers are concerned, no-one can do anything about them. What message does that send out to the kids who are having a ball stealing cars, speeding around the Island and smashing up people’s property? It teaches them that, actually, crime does pay!

Islanders pay rates for a police force whose hands are tied (by the States of Jersey?) because they can do nothing about these under-age problems. But if this is an Island-wide problem surely someone should do something about it? Appealing to parents has, obviously, had no effect because the problems are clearly growing.

Can’t the States, say, appeal to both the schools and parents at parent evenings with police present, to get everyone working together to identify the problems and forge some change in behaviour of these youngsters. And if parents of these kids are skipping parents’ evenings then go visit them directly.

Cover all bases. We also need more police presence in problem areas to, at least, try to deter unsociable behaviour – I’m sure just one squad car driving past problem areas at different times would deter serial offenders, even if there’s nothing the police can physically do!

If there is no accountability or common sense this situation will only get worse. Or will someone have to die (there was a crash at Green Island at the weekend – a youngster in a stolen car!) before something, or our social conscience, forces us to re-evaluate this problem.