ANTI-social behaviour carried out by teenagers in Trowbridge has plummeted from 21 reports in two days to nine in a month thanks to a special police operation.

Police issued two public dispersal notices, which gives officers special powers to expel people from an area for 48 hours, in March after receiving a large number of public reports about anti social behaviour.

On one of these weekends, 21 of these incidents took place in the dispersal areas of the town centre, town park and Longfield Estate.

Inspector Andy Fee then launched Operation Albatross, where officers, PCSO’s and the youth offending team worked together to track down the 20 individuals, aged 14-17, before speaking to their parents and telling them about the teenagers’ behaviour. Over the month-long operation, just nine incidents of youths committing anti-social behaviour were reported.

“We felt Operation Albatross has made a massive difference to tackling that issue and we are looking to use that as a template for anti-social behaviour across Wiltshire,” he said.

“This involved getting out into the town and improving our visibility and having joint patrols with officers and PCSO’s.

“A crucial thing about this was identifying the young individuals, working closely with the youth offending team, using body cameras to identify these people and then going to parents to tell them about their children doing this.

“We work with them and their parents/guardians to divert them away from anti-social behaviour and to engage in more positive activity. This is part of the medium to long-term prevention work vital to tackling future escalation of anti-social behaviour.

“In the first two weeks, two young people were arrested, 10 more were visited at home and parents were spoken to, officers conducted 28 recorded patrols and eight people surrendered alcohol having breached the public space protection order.

“This is not just a police matter. It is a community and engagement one. It is not just down to waving a big stick, it is a team effort. We feel we are on top of anti-social behaviour but we want to keep on top of this.

“Parents took responsibility and it has worked very well. By utilising this method, we have seen some real positive action. We have seen some very significant reductions since then.”

Inspector Fee also played down the problem of the BA14 Crew - thought to be made up of 20 people aged 14-20 on bikes.

“This has been raised for a while. There is not an issue with gangs in the town,” he said. “The information that we have says there is nothing to indicate there is any gang activity.”

Cllr Clive Blackmore, who suffered a bleed on the brain after being assaulted by three youths last year, praised the effectiveness of the police.

“I was assaulted in a bad way. The police managed to apprehend one culprit and he got sent down for 10 years. Without the police, that wouldn’t have happened, so well done,” he said.

The police said that if anti-social behaviour problems rear up again, this effective operation can be deployed once more.