Stop wasting our time over harmless kids, say police

In the past four weeks, 22 incidents of youths causing annoyance in the Eastbourne area have been reported to the police.

However, two of these were simply young people playing football and ten were malicious calls reporting youths who were not committing any offence. The figures were revealed by PC Chris Horner at yesterday's Firthmoor Community Safety Meeting.

He said: "The usual scenario is that someone will phone us and say there are youths outside their house or at the top of their street. When the operator says 'what are they doing?', the caller then realises they aren't doing anything wrong and will fabricate a story by saying they are drinking alcohol or taking drugs before hanging up.

"The calls are usually anonymous and when officers go out to them, they will find the youths and see there are no cigarettes, drugs or alcohol and they were not doing anything wrong. Although we appreciate there are some genuine cases, the majority do waste police time as no crime is being committed."

Residents are being urged to only call police if they witness a crime taking place or if they feel genuinely threatened or harassed.

Ward councillor Lee Vasey said: "It does annoy me when people report youths who are not doing anything other than just standing on street corners or outside shops.

"Youths have done this for years and there is nothing we can do to change that.

"Although the youths are not doing anything, people report them because they fear they may commit a crime.

"However, the incidents of crime are on the decrease in this area and Eastbourne has some of the lowest figures in the town."

PC Horner said youths on the streets can act as the police force's eyes and ears.

"If youths are out on the streets or outside shops they are a deterrent to someone who may be planning to commit a crime and, if a crime does take place, they can act as valuable witnesses."