Police bring Lawn order

9:15pm Wednesday 26th September 2007

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POLICE say the combination of a high-pitched alarm to scare off youths and extra patrols are helping drive away yobs from a busy row of shops.

Guildford Avenue in Lawn has been plagued by gangs of youths whose anti-social behaviour has made elderly residents afraid to visit the shops.

But police say the introduction of a new Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT) to the Lawn and west Walcot is improving matters.

Community beat manager PC Phil Young said: "The main problem at Guildford Avenue was youths hanging around the shops and sometimes drinking.

"But we have found since the NPT started they're tending not to gather.

"The team is something that's developing but, hopefully, by now people will have seen a difference because of the presence of the foot patrol."

The device fitted outside the shops is known as a mosquito and it sends out an irritating high-pitched noise that only young people can hear.

"The main thing that's changed is that the groups that used to hang around Guildford Avenue have gone," PC young said.

"The youths have taken heed of what we have been telling them and they're tending less and less to cause a nuisance so it's working."

As previously reported in the Adver, the Lawn Neighbourhood Watch group said elderly people were afraid to go to the shops in Guildford Avenue.

PC Young said: "If you look at the demographic of the area in Lawn there is quite a high percentage of elderly residents and that's why we need to patrol on foot and provide reassurance."

The NPT met with the public who set out the trouble at the shops as a top priority they wanted the police to tackle, along with anti-social behaviour in west Walcot and speeding cars near Lawn Primary School.

The team will also set up a regular police surgery at the Lawn Community Centre and they are keen to hear suggestions on where they could hold a surgery in west Walcot.

You can contact the Lawn and west Walcot NPT by emailing lawnwalcotwestnpt@wiltshire.pnn.police.uk.

The mosquito was paid for by the council.

Colin Lovell, the cabinet member for communities and neighbourhoods, said: "The mosquito has been a useful tool to tackle anti-social behaviour in other areas of the borough.

"We have been working with the police to resolve the issues in and around Guildford Avenue shops and early indications suggest that the mosquito is having a positive effect on the problems encountered by the community."