YOUTH NUISANCE CRACKDOWN HAILED SUCCESS

MORE than 500 children from across Suffolk have been signed up to a
new police blacklist of young troublemakers - just four months after
the scheme was launched.

Police officers said alcohol was one of the main causes of the
anti-social behaviour and added urban areas such as Ipswich were
seeing the highest number of unruly children.

The Youth Nuisance Register was drawn up in August as part of a
Suffolk police crackdown on anti-social behaviour in the county.

Under the scheme, teenagers who cause a nuisance have their names put
on the list for a period of six months. These are later removed if
they stay out of trouble.

Suffolk police figures showed within four months of its launch, more
than 500 children have already been signed up to the register - 260 of
whom were from Ipswich.

The announcement came after performance figures from Suffolk Police
Authority showed incidents of public disorder in the county had risen
by almost 20% in the first six months of this year.

Chief Inspector Clive Joseph, of Suffolk police's community safety
unit, said alcohol was a predominant feature of the anti-social behaviour.

"We have other things like people throwing stones at cars, climbing
roofs and using swimming pools when they are shut," he added.

"These people are not committing criminal offences, it is the
nuisance factor. If we are getting them at this stage, they will not
come to our attention again."

Under the new scheme - which was successfully piloted in Ipswich -
letters are sent home to parents advising them to curb their son's or
daughter's behaviour.

If the anti-social behaviour continues, a second letter is sent home,
while on the third act of anti-social behaviour, the county's Youth
Offending Service will visit the family with the aim of trying to
change the child's behaviour before they reach the courts.

Mr Joseph said of the 500 or more letters that had already been sent
home to parents, only 41 were second letters, indicating the scheme
was changing the children's behaviour.

"Judging by the numbers, we can draw the conclusion that it is
successfully impacting on young people who come to notice in the first
instance, otherwise we would have a lot more second letters," he
added.

"They are minor things, but are not minor to the people they are
impacting upon."

"There has obviously been an extra amount of work for patrolling
officers as they have to fill out forms and send them out, but it may
be seen as a time investment."

Mr Joseph said the system alerted police to problematic youngsters who
might benefit from an Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) before they
entered a serious life of crime. "It gives us an early indication of
the people coming up," he added.

Julia Stephens-Roe, head of the Suffolk Youth Offending Service, said
it had not had much opportunity to become involved in the scheme yet.

"It's early days, but I think it fits very well with what the Youth
Justice Board are trying to. It's about determining needs and issues
and how they can be best addressed to reduce further difficulties,"
she added.

"We are actually ahead of the game in trying to look at how we can
tackle it within the current provision."