An 'overwhelming majority' of police resources in South Woodham Ferrers are being thrown at nuisance youngsters in the town, a police spokesman has claimed.
Sgt Graeme Dowsett said orders and initiatives to stamp out badly behaved youths have been successful but officers' time is still taken up with tackling gangs of yobs.
His comments come after a 17-year-old local youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was ordered to pay almost £1,200 in compensation after admitting three counts of criminal damage through graffiti.
A further 48 similar offences were taken into account when he appeared at Witham Youth Court, but Sgt Dowsett said he was actually responsible for more than 160 individual pieces of "tagging" around the town.
Magistrates imposed a six-month youth referral order and told him to pay £1,160 to his victims, most of which will go to the town council to pay for graffiti removal.
Sgt Dowsett described the conviction as "a great result for the community policing team and the town." But he added it would not be the end of the story.
Published Monday July 19, 2004
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