RESIDENTS in Yarm have been told they must log incidents of anti-social behaviour before community safety officials can take action.

On Tuesday, the town council and residents met Marilyn Davies, community safety manager for Stockton Borough Council, and representatives from Stockton police, to highlight problems in the town.

Residents, mainly from the Healaugh Park and Willey Flatts areas, raised concerns about a gang of youths intimidating residents, under-age drinking and an increase in litter.

Previously, on Monday, February 2, six youths were arrested on a range of public disorder offences in the Leven Park area. An off-duty police officer suffered a dislocated eye socket during the incident when he was hit in the face by a can.

At the meeting he said: "I cannot believe how much the situation in Yarm has deteriorated over the last two years. People are suffering and our kids are not going out to play."

Many of the residents suggested the use of anti-social behaviour orders to combat the problems.

But Mrs Davies said that the community safety department had to follow a strict legal process before seeking an Asbo from the courts.

"We issue acceptable behaviour contracts first of all," she said. "The contract is formed between the council, police and the person involved. We sit them down and set out what they cannot do.

"A person has to seriously breach the contract five or six times before we can look at seeking an Asbo. A judge expects a lot of evidence collected over six months before issuing an order."

Evidence is gathered by residents logging incidents and naming offenders on diary sheets obtained from the community safety department.

The sheets are logged by the department and the incidents recorded.

Mrs Davies said: "You must fill out your diary sheets. I have only two officers covering the borough and if you don't report incidents, we cannot do anything.

"We held an operation recently in Stockton and we took 80 names. Without the help and information from residents, we couldn't have done it."

Mrs Davies also suggested that the town council could employ two community wardens.

But Coun Marjorie Simpson said that the council would have to raise the parish precept by £40,000, which would be unacceptable.

Coun Andrew Sherris said: "People feel they are not getting adequate policing in Yarm at the moment. We are not asking for more - we just want a fair service."

Insp Ian Coates, who is in charge of Stockton's community policing team, said that he would look into allocating a team of officers to target crime hot-spot areas. But he said that incidents had to be reported to show there was a need for it.

He said: "When you ring the police control room, a response team will be detailed with that task. The community officers are there to pick up on the longer term patterns and prevent them from continuing.