other side of the coin.Bonnie Scotland

Subject: other side of the coin.Bonnie Scotland
From: little john cameron
Date: 06 Mar 02 - 12:48 PM

Don't let the gangs rule

EAST KILBRIDE NEWS.

GRAFFITI-swathed underpasses covered in the battle colours and logos of opposing gangs, a church with state-of-the-art shutters to protect its glass from the constant barrage of stones and bottles, residents too afraid to confront local hooligans for fear of revenge attacks.

Undoubtedly a grim picture of modern life, but this is no snapshot of the Bronx or South Central LA - this is East Kilbride.
This is Westwood, aka the Wild West.
Since the night of mayhem in November in which over 40 baseball bat-wielding youths went on the rampage through the area leaving a 14-year-old boy with a serious gash to the head and countless locals fearful for their safety, police say more is being done to crack down on crime and keep Westwood safe.
Six youths have so far been charged in connection with the incident, but according to one Westwood local the area is gradually falling under the rule of gangs who have no fear of either the police or their parents.
The woman, who does not want to be named, said: "In the last year or two the situation in Westwood - or rather the Wild West as it is known - has become worse than ever.
The gangs congregate in underpasses, carrying weapons, drinking and taking drugs. They've run out of walls to spray graffiti on and moved to the pavements. These kids are only 13-17 years old but it's too scary to walk past them. Decent people like myself have to take the long way round.
"The police need to increase their presence - they need to be seen to be seen. These thugs know the police won't turn up till after there's been a fight, so they know they've got plenty time to get away." The woman worries that if the situation worsens the house she's worked hard to buy and improve will soon become worthless. "Who would want to buy a house in the Wild West? I know I wouldn't," she said.
As the graffiti boasts of entering Young Westwood territory at Darwin Road, the siege mentality continues for families living near these self-proclaimed battle stations.
One man whose home overlooks a row of YW-adorned lock-ups nearby claims there is trouble almost on a nightly basis, as the gangs arrange to fight their rivals from Greenhills, the Murray and Fernhill or just sit for hours on end on public access stairs.
He says the police need to do more to combat the fear of crime amongst the majority of good, hardworking people. "One night I went out and told a gang not to throw bricks near my house. The next day all my rose bushes had been pulled out and they had left the bricks in my garden. On another occasion a gang planted a knife in the garden as some sort of warning," said the man. He continued: "It's frightening for myself and my family. We're trying to keep our area tidy but these young thugs have no respect for themselves or anyone. I've lived here for 35 years, but I can no longer say I'm proud to come from Westwood." At the Westwood Square shops, things are little better.
Westwood Parish Church last week had to install shutters over the windows at a cost of £6000, after 14 panes of glass at the rear were broken by hooligans, the latest in a long line of attacks upon a building supposed to symbolise community spirit.
Minister Kevin McKenzie, who has been in charge of the parish for five years, agrees that levels of vandalism and intimidation have worsened in the last two years. "It's very sad," said Reverend McKenzie.
"Since the gang rampage last year things have gone back to normal - as bad as they were before. We get most of our trouble at night. The security cameras on the Square are useful, but the lighting is so bad that anyone caught on camera probably couldn't be identified anyway. I've been on to the council about lighting on various occasions, but so far nothing has been done." He continued: "When the police are called they just don't come quickly enough. The last time I phoned I was put into a queue and had to age before I was even connected. "The Square is not a good place to be - everyone around here knows that. We need more bobbies on the beat, patrolling more frequently, acting as a deterrent. We need to let our elderly and young people get on with their lives in their own community without fear." In the meantime, both young and old Westwood want to reclaim their territory.

ljc

Subject: RE: other side of the coin.Bonnie Scotland
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Mar 02 - 01:37 PM

And this horror story applies to every town in the UK and Ireland. Can the European mainland be as bad as this?, Anyone out there, please let us know. Paddy Joe.

Subject: RE: other side of the coin.Bonnie Scotland
From: GUEST,Tooligan
Date: 06 Mar 02 - 02:20 PM

Its a depressing picture OK but true. Here in Fife, young thugs marked an old woman's back with chalk as she collected her pension so his mates outside knew who to mug. The tourists don't see too much of it though as a lot of it (but not all)happens well away from the bright lights. People have no respect.

I was in New Zealand recently and was very impressed at the amount of respect the Kiwis show for each other and for their environment. After the Auckland festival, where there were up to 800 people camping all weekend, there wasn't a scrap of litter left on the site on the Monday morning. All over the country it was the same. Maybe the fact the sun was shining made a difference. Maybe its because they grow up in space, not all huddled together in Scottish style housing. Who knows? The irony is, many of them think Scotland is a great country

Subject: RE: other side of the coin.Bonnie Scotland
From: little john cameron
Date: 06 Mar 02 - 02:26 PM

Your're right about the rest of the country.This was just a snippit,if i put it all in there would be no memory left on this site.A sad state o affairs right enough.ljc

Subject: RE: other side of the coin.Bonnie Scotland
From: GUEST,Boab
Date: 07 Mar 02 - 12:17 AM

Alcopops, illicit canned liquor, cheap wine, uncaring boozy parents, criminal offlicence owners, Lack of civic and national pride, lack of youth-centred facilities, mindless sectarianism, ingestion of vehicle exhausts contaminated by still-legal lead brain-addling additives [oh, yes!!]. All miscreants aren't exposed to ALL of these, but all are affected by some of them . Tragedy is the only word to describe it.....

Subject: RE: other side of the coin.Bonnie Scotland
From: Teribus
Date: 07 Mar 02 - 04:44 AM

Another newspaper article:

Meet the Young Offender, soon to be burgling a house near you By Philip Johnston (Filed: 05/03/2002)

YOU may have seen him last weekend. He was walking down your street in broad daylight, trying the door-handles of every parked car to see if anyone had been foolish enough to leave their vehicle unlocked.

He was about 16 or 17, and athletic: probably black, if you live in certain parts of London; more likely white in most other towns and cities.

Had you been sufficiently courageous to ask him what he was doing, he would at first have protested his innocence of any criminal intent before treating you to a stream of profanities and threatening you with violence. He might have returned later with some friends to throw a brick through your window.

He wears expensive trainers and designer sports label clothes, such as a Nike sweat shirt with a hood or a baseball cap. In his pockets he has a fair amount of cash, an expensive mobile telephone - which he has stolen - and, possibly, a knife.

The local police know our Young Offender well. They have arrested him maybe seven or eight times and regard him as a menace. By their reckoning, he is responsible for a large proportion of the burglaries that take place within a mile or two of his home on a large, low-rise, 1960s housing estate.

They have watched his criminal career develop ever since he was caught stealing at 11. Then, he was let off with a caution. The police asked his parents to attend the station while it was being administered, but only his mother turned up. His stepfather could not be bothered.

Since then, he has been in court for crimes ranging from burglary to car theft and assault. He has been given two supervision orders, but has broken them both. Much to the irritation of the police, he has been granted bail on his last two visits to court because there is no secure accommodation available.

The Young Offender's friends are cast from the same mould. He went to school with them and they live on the same twilight estate. Occasionally, they carry out burglaries together, though they prefer to act alone because it reduces the risk of being caught. Not that the Young Offender thinks he will get caught. He may not know the exact statistics, but, in the police district where he lives, the crime clear-up rates are pitifully low.

And if he is caught, what of it? With his record he will probably receive a Detention and Training Order, which means a few months in a secure institution followed by a period on probation. More likely, his punishment will be an off-the-peg community penalty, perhaps forced attendance on an Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme.

He would be required to wear an electronic tag and observe a night-time curfew. It may do him some good; but, whereas for many of his age, the prospect of a criminal record would be shameful, for the Young Offender it is a rite of passage. He has no moral compass.

His father left his mother before he was born. He has two older brothers, both of whom have been in prison. His stepfather was the predominant male influence as he grew up, but he has been in and out of jail for robbery and assault. From an early age, the Young Offender was allowed to stay out until any hour.

When he was 10, he was placed in care for a short period. But he absconded twice and was found wandering the streets. The authorities thought he was safer at home.

At school, he was highly disruptive. He was often excluded, never did any homework and failed any exam he could be forced to attend. He frightened other pupils and his continued presence at the school enraged their parents. He could have made a good footballer, but could not be bothered to attend training.

He played truant more often than he went to school. His potential criminality was evident from an early age, yet little was done to forestall it, apart from some sporadic counselling sessions that he treated with contempt. Once, he would have been sent to a borstal or an approved school; but these were closed down years ago in a fit of liberal guilt that has done him no favours.

The Young Offender does not always fit the popular profile of an addict committing crimes to feed his habit. He has taken cannabis, but prefers to spend his money on alcohol and clothes. But he has friends who smoke crack cocaine and inject heroin. He will try them soon.

Nor does the Young Offender live only in inner London. His home is just as likely to be in a suburban estate or in a dormitory town outside London, Manchester or Newcastle. He rarely sees a policeman except when he is being arrested. Yet his family's council house was once a police house in the days when constables lived in the communities they policed.

On a Friday or Saturday night he can be found getting tanked up with his mates on vodka cocktails and beer. Afterwards, they will descend on an all-night take-away and pick a fight with anyone unlucky enough to get in their way. Occasionally, the Young Offender will get off with a girl. This is unlikely to be the start of a long-term relationship, though one might prove to be the only brake on his offending behaviour.

He officially leaves school this summer, but where does he go next? Once there were well-paid jobs in the pits, steelworks or shipyards that offered a future for an unqualified, under-educated young man. But with his criminal background, there is nothing. He has a job lined up as a driver's mate, but he does not care if it comes to nothing.

He is the despair of the authorities, who have sunk billions of pounds of public money into a bewildering variety of initiatives, punishment schemes, task forces and judicial procedures designed to curb his behaviour. As the editor of the Voice said yesterday, the black Young Offender has become so potentially murderous in parts of London that his community wants the police to use their stop-and-search powers more effectively.

He is the mainstay of an entire academic discipline researching what makes him tick. He has spawned a thicket of White Papers and official reports with titles like No More Excuses and Mis-spent Youth. Every Home Secretary from before he was born has promised to "crack down" on the Young Offender. But he is now more prevalent than ever and is burgling a house near you.

Subject: RE: other side of the coin.Bonnie Scotland
From: harvey andrews
Date: 07 Mar 02 - 04:58 AM

Its simplistic I know but "bring back fathers", bring back male primary school teachers and re-instate some form of non military national service,oh and replace useless punishments with national litter clearing parties, the country's a rubbish dump.All wishful thinking I know. Now back in my day young man.........(snore)

Subject: RE: other side of the coin.Bonnie Scotland
From: GUEST,Tooligan
Date: 07 Mar 02 - 05:33 AM

There are lots of good bits too. And not everyone is bad. I think many other countries are having the same problems but no - one knows how to change things. I think the celebrity/scandal driven media has a lot to answer for. And why is Cowdenbeath so visible more run down than Aberdeen? Or Airdrie and St Andrews?

Subject: RE: other side of the coin.Bonnie Scotland
From: Zipster
Date: 07 Mar 02 - 06:58 AM

I think Tooligan makes a good point. "Youth takes active role in community" is a headline you're unlikely to see in the papers, and yet I can think of many instances where it is true. Equally the urban/suburban deprevation described above is not unique to Scotland and is no more relevant to my experience living here than grouse shooting, highland dancing or eating shortbread.

This is not to say that its not a growing problem and requires everyones attention and consideration.

Firstly the easy stuff, like a lot of things, it begins at home. Do you always know what your kids are up to? If you come from a nice middle class home, in my experience it is likely that at some point your kids will dabble in some of the behaviour above by way of experimentation and gaining street-cred. These kids are saveable, do it for a couple of years then go off to college and get the jobs that give them society membership and a sense of responsibility. They are however a drain on policing as they will be carrying out their misbehaviour in the sort of areas where people will harry the police to attend.

The other less fortunate onesicing? Community policing seems to be desirable from what has been said before and this would seem to be beneficial. Perhaps addressing the symptoms rather than the problem itself though.I think people need to feel valued members of society. How to achieve this when, as stated above, the kind of mass employment opportunities no longer exist?

I have bounced a thought round my head for the last couple of years without ever fully forming it. I had wondered if there was some connection to be made between the growing unemployment of the 50+, lack of opportunity for the young and the widening gap globally between the haves and the have nots. Is there an opportunity for a government scheme that would pay for time served men to do charitable work abroad, with convicted youths given an option to carryout apprenticeships abroad, rather than community service. Thus giving them employable skills and giving them the wider context of seeing a bigger world out there... Don't know. Its bound to be riddled with flaws that I don't have the experience ot see, and I'm not sure this is the correct forum to discuss, but something does need to be done.

Z(R)