A Dundee councillor has called for residents to report unruly teenagers to the police, after almost becoming a victim of their dangerous, anti-social behaviour.
East End representative Christina Roberts was driving her car in Fountainbleau Drive at the bottom of Pitkerro Road when she saw a group of youngsters hurling stones at passing vehicles.
She was fortunate to escape without her vehicle being hit but said the incident, which she reported to Tayside Police, was one of a number that had been raised with her by residents in her ward.
Ms Roberts added that if enough incidents like the one she witnessed are passed on to the force, there might be a case for reintroducing the police’s community taskforce to Linlathen.
She said, “These were not little kids they were teenagers throwing stones at cars and bus drivers and they were using a tennis racket to hit the stones harder.
“I was going to the housing to go to a residents’ group, that’s when I spotted them. I thought, ‘I’m going to get my car hit’ but I actually managed to get through without being hit.”
She added, “I was quite lucky. If people are witnessing this, they should call the police or their local wardens.
“If they did that then I think there would be a case for bringing in extra officers like last time, although we would have to wait our turn again.”
Ms Roberts said the problem of anti-social youths tends to have spikes, where many incidents take place before things calm down for a period, although she had not noticed any major change during the school holidays.
She added, “It goes in cycles you have a wee while where there are a lot of problems then it goes quiet for a while. We are just going through a phase at the moment then it might quieten down again.”Troublemakers “the minority”Recent incidents in the East End ward include reports last month of children climbing on to the roof of St Vincent’s church on Kingsway East, from where they threw stones and damaged windows.
Vandals also caused £10,000 of damage to the Alloway Centre in June, something Ms Roberts said at the time was part of a recurring problem of teenagers drinking in the area.
On Tuesday she said that many of the recent incidents relate to problems involving teenagers entering people’s property and causing minor damage.
She said, “There have been a few kids that cause a bit of a problem, a lot of them are up for ASBOs and ABCs (acceptable behaviour contracts), but these few kids are the minority.
“I have had some people complain to me about them, though. It’s usually about the kids climbing on sheds and walls or digging up plants.”
A police spokeswoman said, “We would always encourage members of any community to reports acts of vandalism to us so that it can be investigated.
“The decision as to where the community taskforce is deployed rests with the force executive, in consultation with the three divisional command teams in Dundee, Angus and Perth.
“However, their decision is largely based on evidence of anti-social behaviour and crime in any given area and they work very closely with local community safety partnerships to identify areas for their deployment.”