Police book into library to stop young trouble-makers
8:47am Monday 30th April 2007
Comments (54)POLICE plan to establish a permanent base at Penhill Library after staff were besieged by abusive youths as young as 10.
Nearly a dozen young boys and girls have been banned from the library in the last four months for intimidating and abusing staff.
And Swindon council says it has been forced to make security guards available on call to vulnerable librarians throughout the town.
Eleven children aged between 10 and 15, six of whom are girls, have been barred from using Penhill Library after intimidating staff.
Five girls aren't allowed to enter the library for a year while another has been barred for three months.
Four boys, including one as young as 10, have been suspended for a year with another being banned for three months.
Assaults on library workers in the town have contributed to a number of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders being issued.
Swindon Council's group library manager, Shaun Smith, said: "Staff have been threatened and have difficult things to deal with.
"In the past few months there have been incidents involving youths where the police had to be called.
"We had one major incident where a big fight kicked off and we had to call the police.
"It is a very difficult problem and we are trying to help our staff overcome it."
Youngsters mostly visit Swindon's libraries to use its 142 computers for free.
Mr Smith said: "The staff felt it wasn't their job to deal with people who get aggressive - they are only expected to ask them to leave.
"The library has suffered in Penhill as it is often the only place open - the kids come in to use the computers and they kick off. We are doing what we can to stop it happening."
He said that Penhill isn't the only affected library as it is a widespread problem. Youths spill out from the library into the John Moulton Hall, which houses it.
Coun David Glaholm (Lab, Penhill) said: "We've been making sure there is a presence in the building when the library is open. The police and the local community have been coming together.
"But these youths need somewhere to go."
The council's library electronic service manager, Marion Stevens, said: "All our libraries have to cope with abuse week in and week out. It is a huge issue and staff are stressed by it.
"The computers attract kids that wouldn't normally come in. By barring them from the computers, it takes away the reason for them to come in."
PC Conway Duncan, the community beat manager for Penhill, said: "We have been working very closely with the library. They have been informing me of the names and I have made a few interventions.
"The Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT) has an anti-social behaviour database and their names have been going on there and letters have been sent out.
He said children face Asbos and acceptable behaviour contracts if they continue to act up.
"The letters have gone to a few that take heed but we have got others that need a visit to take notice," he said.
"This behaviour is not to be tolerated because it's not fair on the residents in the area and people using these facilities."
Your Say YourThis Is Wiltshire
Ed, swindon says...
9:53am Mon 30 Apr 07
Its a great facility & would be a shame to lose but if it attracts trouble why bother, these kids wouldnt go to the librarys if it wasnt for the pc's as i doubt many of them would be into reading or can even read!! I live in penhill & feel sorry for the staff no one shold have to put up with abuse at work like that...
mush1234, swindon says...
10:01am Mon 30 Apr 07
Voice of Reason, Town says...
10:22am Mon 30 Apr 07
mush1234, swindon says...
10:28am Mon 30 Apr 07
The Truth, says...
10:31am Mon 30 Apr 07
Council House People
And what do you propose I should call people who live in council houses?
I do agree with your other point though - until the police/society starts prosecuting and punishing parents for their offspring's behaviour, nothing will change.
The Truth, says...
10:33am Mon 30 Apr 07
Council House People
What do you propose I should call people who live in council houses then?
I agree with your other point though - until the police/society starts prosecuting and punishing parents for their offspring's behaviour, nothing will change.
Voice of Reason, Town says...
10:38am Mon 30 Apr 07
Girgoylia, says...
10:41am Mon 30 Apr 07
mush1234 wrote:"Mush1234" if you were paying attention to what "Voice of Reason" wrote, you'd realize that the council house reference was pointed at "The Truth" not you. As for the kids, we have that same problem over here in Australia, except it's a group of 30-40 brats, roaming the streets and causing mayhem in and around the supermarket I work in. The prime cause of it all is a lack of strict discipline from parents through to teachers and society, because we don't want child abuse do we? No, we'd rather have a dysfunctional generation instead.
i never mentioned council house people, and i didnt say they didnt deserve these facilities i said knocked them down cause they are rotten.read the post you muppet
Voice of Reason, Town says...
10:43am Mon 30 Apr 07
Arbitrator, Swindon says...
10:46am Mon 30 Apr 07
Voice of Reason, Town says...
11:02am Mon 30 Apr 07
The Truth, says...
11:11am Mon 30 Apr 07
However, in this instance you have to agree that it's council house people's children in Penhill that are behaving badly and ruining the facilities and opportunities that the rest of us are all helping to pay for for them to try and improve themselves.
The fact is that they'd rather smash the place up and run riot than appreciate and take advantage of the opportunities offered to them.
As far as I'm aware, there aren't many (any?) private houses in Penhill, it's all council housing or ex-council housing bought for pennies.
Voice of Reason, Town says...
11:25am Mon 30 Apr 07
The Truth, says...
11:41am Mon 30 Apr 07
The evidence is staring you in the face virtually everytime you open The Adver.
It's no good guessing (hoping?) that other kids may be involved in this behaviour.
Voice of Reason, Town says...
11:54am Mon 30 Apr 07
Voice of Reason, Town says...
11:56am Mon 30 Apr 07
Actually, I did.
The Truth, says...
11:57am Mon 30 Apr 07
we have an old saying, you dont s##t on your doorstep
You're showing your age now. Kids today don't think about such common sense ideas.
mummsy and daddy pay off the fines and keep it all hush hush
What planet do you live on? You are joking, right? Do you actually think that happens?
You really do hate people with money don't you?
Voice of Reason, Town says...
12:09pm Mon 30 Apr 07
Voice of Reason, Town says...
12:14pm Mon 30 Apr 07
Voice of Reason, Town says...
12:15pm Mon 30 Apr 07
Voice of Reason wrote:I didn't write that either!
Once again some cretin has decided to use my handle to clog up this thread with nonsense. I've had enough - I'm logging off now.
Peeved, Swindon says...
12:40pm Mon 30 Apr 07
mush1234, swindon says...
1:00pm Mon 30 Apr 07
mush1234, swindon says...
1:00pm Mon 30 Apr 07
Voice of Reason, Town says...
1:42pm Mon 30 Apr 07
Five will get you ten that the fool who keeps mentioning Gumbo will be on this thread in a minute. And thats the best part.
lorry, says...
1:50pm Mon 30 Apr 07
Voice of Reason, Fed Up Need Copyright says...
1:53pm Mon 30 Apr 07
Voice of Reason, Park South says...
1:53pm Mon 30 Apr 07
The Truth, says...
1:54pm Mon 30 Apr 07
you bigoted narrow minded pratt, i find your comments about council house tennants highly offensive and incorrect.
So, you insult someone personally and then go on to say you found their comments 'highly offensive'? Good work.
Look, this story is about council house kids ruining facilities in council house estates - get over it and face the facts.
or a re you too busy scrounging of the state
Er, you're the one living in a council house, not me. I'm one of those that pay lots of tax to bail people like you out.
No thanks necessary.
Voice of Reason, At work so not in Park South says...
2:17pm Mon 30 Apr 07
The Truth, says...
5:00pm Mon 30 Apr 07
I am sick of council estates getting slated
Really? Why not try and do something about making them less obvious targets then?
Just because you have to live in one of these dump estates doesn't mean you should pretend there aren't horrendous problems there.
most of these fools dont even know where there kids are at night its probably there kids causing the damage
Yeah, OK. You keep thinking that if it makes you feel better about where you live.
BTW, it would be very difficult for me to know where my kids are, given that I don't actually have any. I'm too busy working to pay the taxes that allow all your single mother neighbours to have five kids for free to have any of my own.
Voice of Reason, Park South and **** Proud says...
5:25pm Mon 30 Apr 07
The Truth, says...
6:45pm Mon 30 Apr 07
so why are you any better than me you self righteous prat..?..?
I can spell and have an above four year old grasp of the English language for a start.
You, on the other hand, actually sound like a psychotic remedial student.
you ahve no kids beacuse youe so self obsessed and in love with yourself that no woman has wanted to come near a waste of space like yourself.
Really? My girlfriend will be interested to hear that.
Of course, unlike you council house people, I actually know what birth control is and have enough intelligence to be able to use it properly.
Your son's in the army? Too thick to get a proper job if your standard of English is anything to go by.
You did get one thing correct though. Unlike you, I do actually like myself and my life and don't take out my bitterness on those who have more money than I do.
omg your all at it again!, USA says...
7:44pm Mon 30 Apr 07
CK, Swindon says...
10:02pm Mon 30 Apr 07
Girgoylia wrote:This is exactly the problem. Over the years too many "do-gooders" have advocated "don't smack your children" and this is the result. These "do-gooders" can't seem to be able to differentiate between a smack to a naughty child to teach it right from wrong and out and out child abuse. There's a whole world of a difference.
mush1234 wrote: i never mentioned council house people, and i didnt say they didnt deserve these facilities i said knocked them down cause they are rotten.read the post you muppet"Mush1234" if you were paying attention to what "Voice of Reason" wrote, you'd realize that the council house reference was pointed at "The Truth" not you. As for the kids, we have that same problem over here in Australia, except it's a group of 30-40 brats, roaming the streets and causing mayhem in and around the supermarket I work in. The prime cause of it all is a lack of strict discipline from parents through to teachers and society, because we don't want child abuse do we? No, we'd rather have a dysfunctional generation instead.
To compound this, we have a government that is so soft on crime that the victim is regarded as the criminal, not the other way round.
It's high time parents brought their offspring under control and if they refuse, then the parents should be prosecuted and the children taken away from them. Teachers should also be allowed to use corporal punishment as they did when I was at school and the Courts should be able to hand out punishments to fit the crime.
Until this happens, things are only going to go from bad to worse.
Like it or not, children need discipline
Tracy, Park North says...
10:19pm Mon 30 Apr 07
The Truth wrote:I find your comment about the army insulting. My son is going in the army in September with excellent grades from school. I believe he will have more opportunity to better himself than in civilian life. The army will not take just anyone and recruits have to pass a barrage of tests before being accepted.
so why are you any better than me you self righteous prat..?..?
I can spell and have an above four year old grasp of the English language for a start.
You, on the other hand, actually sound like a psychotic remedial student.
you ahve no kids beacuse youe so self obsessed and in love with yourself that no woman has wanted to come near a waste of space like yourself.
Really? My girlfriend will be interested to hear that.
Of course, unlike you council house people, I actually know what birth control is and have enough intelligence to be able to use it properly.
Your son's in the army? Too thick to get a proper job if your standard of English is anything to go by.
You did get one thing correct though. Unlike you, I do actually like myself and my life and don't take out my bitterness on those who have more money than I do.
Army boys, says...
10:48pm Mon 30 Apr 07
PC 1903, Gorse Hill says...
11:09pm Mon 30 Apr 07
I used to have a weekly meeting in the library which gave the residents the chance to drop in for a chat with their local bobby. Now that there will be a more permanent post there it will make contact with the local Neighbourhood Policing Team much easier and will deter the nuissance children. The problem we all face is parents who do not take responsibility for the problems that their children cause. The police and the courts cannot change this - it is as those above have stated a society/generation/parenting/discipline problem. It is very frustrating as a police officer not to have the support from parents of unruly children but equally rewarding when they are as they can have much more impact than anything else.
I hope that the brainless and childish comments will stop now.
Tory Boy, says...
12:28am Tue 1 May 07
Labour Righteous, says...
12:29am Tue 1 May 07
Tory Boy, says...
12:31am Tue 1 May 07
Labour Righteous, says...
12:33am Tue 1 May 07
Tory Boy, says...
12:34am Tue 1 May 07
How many Labour Muppets can boast about that?
Labour Righteous, says...
12:36am Tue 1 May 07
They keep swapping teams on Swindon Council.
Muppet
Tory Boy, says...
12:37am Tue 1 May 07
Labour Righteous, says...
12:37am Tue 1 May 07
Tory Boy, says...
12:38am Tue 1 May 07
Labour Righteous, says...
12:40am Tue 1 May 07
Tory Boy, says...
12:41am Tue 1 May 07
Jolly Voter, says...
12:42am Tue 1 May 07
CK, Swindon says...
1:10am Tue 1 May 07
Jolly Voter wrote:I thought they were already in government.
This year I'm going to vote for The Muppet Party
Jolly Voter, says...
1:15am Tue 1 May 07
A rose, by any other name, would it not smell as sweet....
A muppet, be it Tory or Labour, blue capped or red, would it not still be a muppet
Tracy, Park North says...
7:33am Tue 1 May 07
Army boys wrote:Firstly, We do not originate from Swindon, although I have lived in Swindon for 25 years 12 of those in the Parks. Secondly My Husband was in the army for 14 years. His son My stepson lives in Cornwall. The people of Parks are in the main decent hard working. Both my husband and I work full time. You really
Hmm, lots of lads from the Parks joining the army I see!
need to stop generalising and understand that there is good and bad everywhere.
Steve, says...
5:40pm Tue 1 May 07
PC Conway Duncan and PCSO Vicky Packford outside Penhill Library
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The truth is, says...
8:49am Mon 30 Apr 07
Council house people don't even deserve these facilities if they can't keep their vermin little children from destroying them.