Three arrests after night of violence (From Wiltshire Times)

Sam, Trowbridge says...
2:11pm Mon 23 Jul 07

This is discraceful, it is no longer safe to go out at night for men or women, what has happened to the youth of today?. Is national service the answer, would that teach them respect?. I also question what parent allows their child of that age out roaming the streets late at night. Still I suppose they will get a firm telling off ( i doubt that will stop them).

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martyn1985, melksham says...
4:57pm Mon 23 Jul 07

i hope these little ****'s get dealt with accordingly by the police, the amount of trouble this same group of kids cause in the town week in week out is astonishing. something needs to be done about it before someone takes matters into there own hands.

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gowestgw, Melksham says...
6:31pm Mon 23 Jul 07

When are the police going to do something about these hoodlums ruining the lives of the majority, being the law abiding residents of Melksham?

The town centre is overrun by these yobs from 5:30pm most nights, people who have no respect for anybody.

Sorry, I forgot the police would rather be handing out tickets to somebody driving a few miles per hour over the speed limit.

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mark_wilts, Melksham says...
6:57pm Mon 23 Jul 07

They ruin the Carnival and they now assult innocent people who want a good night out after spending all week working and paying their taxes and NI.

These layabouts would rather cause havoc than make use of their time helping the community or themselves. I think National Service is the way to go, and also a zero tolerance zone in the town centre whereby police can move on and arrest people if they are causing grief.

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jarge, bordeaux (British exile) says...
8:47pm Mon 23 Jul 07

mark_wilts wrote:
They ruin the Carnival and they now assult innocent people who want a good night out after spending all week working and paying their taxes and NI. These layabouts would rather cause havoc than make use of their time helping the community or themselves. I think National Service is the way to go, and also a zero tolerance zone in the town centre whereby police can move on and arrest people if they are causing grief.

The Police have always had the power to arrest people causing touble, the problem is that the police have to be there in the first place. Maybe the answer is a special group of, say, 20 officers who "hit" a town without warning on any evening and arrest anyone whose behavious is threatening the peace. Under the Public Order Act, even making a threatening gesture can be arrestable. Time it was.

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jodiie_melkshamX, melksham says...
9:33am Tue 24 Jul 07

not all teenagers are the same you know!! im a teenager myself, i go out friday nights and hang about in town. i dont cause trouble. you were all children once remember?!! how many teenagers are there in melksham? there is over 1000 and the vast majority of them are NOT trouble makers. its not fair to sterotype us. your judging us before you get to know us. some of us are quite nice people! and respect is a two way thing.

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may, warminster says...
4:47pm Tue 24 Jul 07

jodiie_melkshamX wrote:
not all teenagers are the same you know!! im a teenager myself, i go out friday nights and hang about in town. i dont cause trouble. you were all children once remember?!! how many teenagers are there in melksham? there is over 1000 and the vast majority of them are NOT trouble makers. its not fair to sterotype us. your judging us before you get to know us. some of us are quite nice people! and respect is a two way thing.

I agree it's always a few who spoil it for the others.
I have to use a Mobilty Scootor to get about and its mostly teenager who open doors for me help put my shopping in the basket and stop when coming towards me so I can easiley get pass a little while back when i have a Punchure
its was a goup of teeager's who stopped and offter to help one even offering to go home and get a repair kit so perhaps we should stop blaming all teenager

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martyn1985, melksham says...
6:27pm Tue 24 Jul 07

noone is blameing teenagers in general if u bothered to read the comments, its the same group of teenegers week in week out causing the trouble, and yes jodi, i remember being a 15/16yr old teenager, but i didnt hang about the town centre drinking and assaulting people physically and/or verbally

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Joe 90, ex Bathonian says...
12:59am Wed 25 Jul 07

I was a Police officer in Wiltshire and can say that at times its quite common for there to be 2-3 officers covering a town. One arrest means 2 officers are off in custody processing prisoners and interviewing. Oh yeah PCSOs what a waste of time that job is, no powers, ineffective training and people doing the job- what job exactly? So Tony Blair as crippled police services and tied them up with so much procedure and red tape that the effective use of police officers has been restricted. These little morons commonly cause problems , crim damage, drugs, alcohol etc. The parents don't give a **** and are often idiotic so nothing is ever acheived. Another point why its a pain to arrest a young person is that it often requires an appropriate adult and video interview and that takes ages. You would be left with no police out on the streets.

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walter, wilshur says...
7:29am Wed 25 Jul 07

The last figure Oi could find on internet were for 2004, when Wilshur police staff strength was 844. Allowing for leave and bein' sick, let's say 700 available. Three shifts, that's about 200 MAXIMUM to cover the whole county at any time, and Oi reckon as 'ow tis a lot less than that. Hw many actuerly out an' about on the ground? Oi reckon as 'ow it's a bloody thin blue line, an' all!!!

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Daryl, melksham says...
8:28am Wed 25 Jul 07

One day these 3 cowards will pick on the wrong person/persons and get a good slapping down......The majority of young people in Melksham are decent, so lets not pre-judge......The police are between a rock and a hard place, damned if they do, damned if they don't....

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martyn1985, melksham says...
2:49pm Wed 25 Jul 07

it was a group of 15 who did the assault outside woolworths. it's a shame only 3 got arrested overall. altho i dont know how many there were for the other 2 assaults.

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Sam, Trowbridge says...
5:34pm Wed 25 Jul 07

When I was in my youth (not so long ago), there was never this amount of trouble, if there was a 'fight' it was usually over a girl and was sorted out with a fist fight. Now there always seems to be some sort of weapon involved and an intent to do real harm, and can quite often be unprovoked. I am not blaming all teenagers but I DO believe that respect for others begins at home. The police must be very frustrated when there is not a **** thing they can do about these thugs.

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Sam, Trowbridge says...
5:35pm Wed 25 Jul 07

Didn't realise **** was an offensive word! sorry

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Joe 90, ex Bathonian says...
5:57pm Wed 25 Jul 07

If they have committed an arrestable offence then they can be arrested but figure this. You arrest (2x officers required)them collate as much info for interview, witness information and collect all evidence. Take them to custody, get an appropriate adult, process prints, DNA, extensive form completion, await appropriate adult, await solicitor. Then interview. Then bail to do further enquiries. Then more than often video interview the vulnerable or young victim. Get further statements, CCTV, photographic or other evidence. Then put it to the Crown Prosecution Service. Further file work for court. Then attend custody for return custody date. Then charge with the offence or not. Then that goes to court MAYBE at a reat cost to the tax payer. Then the nasty piece of work IF CONVICTED gets a 50 quid fine. That process takes hours and lots of money. The little **** doesn't get to do anything other than pay a little fine. So often when you are a police officer on duty with one or two colleagues covering 2 0r 3 towns, are you going to arrest every kid at the first sign of an offence that will take you off the street for hours or try and stay deployable for the more serious assaults etc that come in later on the shift. Probably many offences are not dealt with properly cos the police don't have the resources. Of course serving officers couldn't say this cos when your in the job you're silenced. The criminals are laughing at the system. Its in a mess and not working, moral in the police is very low and there are no solutions. I know I did the job.

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Public Spirit, Wiltshire says...
4:34pm Thu 26 Jul 07

Never truer words posted, Joe 90. We know all teenagers are not bad people, Jodie. As always the minority cause the trouble. The real problem is exactly as Joe explains it, first hand.

I'll put it my way as an observer: we have a lunatic governement who have made the job of the police a complete nightmare. Nothing will improve until the law is changed to get back to letting the boys in blue (police not silly PCSOs) handle things quickly and simply without having to appease the nanny state and its softly softly bureaucracy.

It is more trouble than its worth to make an arrest these days and for the sentences the thugs get, why do the police even bother?

Sadly, the senior officers in the police are brainwashed to meet government targets not protect the public. The fantastic police officers we have cannot tell you this because it would be career suicide.

You ask where your police are when you need them, well Joe has told you all. They make one arrest, especially of a young thug and by the time they have complied with the letter of the law, that is their shift finished. They do lack resources but those resources they have are required by idiotic laws to spend their time making sure they give the thugs all of their precious rights. The thin blue line is thinner than ever now.

When will we ever be able to get back to the days when the bobby gave a potential young thug a clout round the ear and he didn't dare tell his dad or he'd have got another. These days both the Bobby and the parent would be up for assault as would a teacher who caned an unruly pupil. But the innocent victimes do not count anymore just the aggressors and then we wonder what our police are doing about this that and everything else.

A good PCSO is probably trained to hold the officer's coat when he/she has to go in to break up an affray. A complete waste of public money.

WHAT WE NEED IS:

More Bobbies, less criminal justice but more victim justice, harsher sentences and more power for the police without the need to wrap the offenders in cotton wool. Less emphasis on political correctness crimes would help too.

Never truer words posted, Joe 90. We know all teenagers are not bad people, Jodie. As always the minority cause the trouble. The real problem is exactly as Joe explains it, first hand. I'll put it my way as an observer: we have a lunatic governement who have made the job of the police a complete nightmare. Nothing will improve until the law is changed to get back to letting the boys in blue (police not silly PCSOs) handle things quickly and simply without having to appease the nanny state and its softly softly bureaucracy. It is more trouble than its worth to make an arrest these days and for the sentences the thugs get, why do the police even bother? Sadly, the senior officers in the police are brainwashed to meet government targets not protect the public. The fantastic police officers we have cannot tell you this because it would be career suicide. You ask where your police are when you need them, well Joe has told you all. They make one arrest, especially of a young thug and by the time they have complied with the letter of the law, that is their shift finished. They do lack resources but those resources they have are required by idiotic laws to spend their time making sure they give the thugs all of their precious rights. The thin blue line is thinner than ever now. When will we ever be able to get back to the days when the bobby gave a potential young thug a clout round the ear and he didn't dare tell his dad or he'd have got another. These days both the Bobby and the parent would be up for assault as would a teacher who caned an unruly pupil. But the innocent victimes do not count anymore just the aggressors and then we wonder what our police are doing about this that and everything else. A good PCSO is probably trained to hold the officer's coat when he/she has to go in to break up an affray. A complete waste of public money. WHAT WE NEED IS: More Bobbies, less criminal justice but more victim justice, harsher sentences and more power for the police without the need to wrap the offenders in cotton wool. Less emphasis on political correctness crimes would help too.

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Joe 90, ex Bathonian says...
7:42pm Thu 26 Jul 07

Ta Public Spirit, you obviously have an understanding of the system. England has useless leadership and is scared stiff to do anything about anything. PCSO's (civilians)are a total waste of time, they are mainly obese housewives who just go around gossiping or wanna be police officers. If I was a criminal Wiltshire would be a great place to be.

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Public Spirit, Wiltshire says...
4:20pm Mon 30 Jul 07

Not that I take too much notice of statistics but it seems the new crime figures (e.g.16% up on violent crime) for Wiltshre support your point, especially the last sentence which seeme to be spot on.

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bigfoot, Wilts says...
8:22am Wed 1 Aug 07

A good PCSO is probably trained to hold the officer's coat when he/she has to go in to break up an affray. A complete waste of public money.

Actually Public Spirit, they're not allowed to attend potentially violent or confrontational situations. They are, in effect, neither use nor ornament. Sadly the Government have got it wrong again.

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Public Spirit, Wiltshire says...
2:39am Fri 3 Aug 07

Thanks Bigfoot. I bow to your greater knowledge and stand corrected. PCSOs are an even bigger waste of space than I thought.

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babyb, melksham says...
1:23pm Sat 4 Aug 07

Hi im 19 and i no the people you are talking about and to be fair iv read messages blaiming the parents really which is really stupid as i no for a fact that some of these people have the most caring and protective parents the problem is theres alot of immature boys about who are turning 18 buyin the drink for the young ones and the young ones are thinking they wanna be like the older kids and there gettin involved if someone done something about the older ones influencing the younger ones then it could change for instants your all blaiming the young ones when 2weeks ago i was outside one of the food places when a 16 year old boy came runnin up to me basically crying with blood coming out of his face where a 30 year old man had beat him up and was stood in front of me trying to get to the boy it was only when i told the grown man to geta life and back off that he actually stopped so at the end of the day its a two way thing hear when u av grown men acting like children how are the young ones suppose to learn anything its abosolutely disgusting and im actually embarressed to even be associated with melksham i dont no what is happening to it but you cannot just blaim the young ones because iv seen alot of grown men acting like peter pan and there is just no need for it so instead of thinkin the best way to deal with it is to blaime the young ones take a good look at some of the adults and another thing i hang around with a few people that have a drink some of them often do drugs but not one of them have ever gone out of there way to hurt someone so instead of looking for the excuses of blaiming drugd drink youngings you really need to think of why these kids are like it the police of melksham might aswell walk around with clown paints on because no one ever cares if there there or not. im just disgusted with the vast majority of you who thinks blaiming the young ones will solve everything melksham has never been the best place to live and be happy so why are people only reckonising this now

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martyn1985, melksham says...
7:16pm Mon 13 Aug 07

atleast make sense.

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cidb, england says...
3:23pm Tue 21 Aug 07

PCSOs are given almost no power to tackle any type of crime. and they are issued with almost no equipment. they are given a huge list of things that they must not do and they are ordered to not attend almost any job involving crime as its not in their " REMIT"
If people want to see a real impact on crime, the goverment should give the 1000s of PCSOs some real training and powers and equipment instead of sending out community officers to patrol the streets with nothing more then a pocket note book and a smile.

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