A gang of teenagers, some as young as 14, have been wreaking havoc on the streets of Eastwood and making residents' lives a nightmare.
Now police have said "enough is enough," and are working on a whole range of initiatives to crack down on the arson, graffiti, verbal abuse, harassment, vandalism and public nuisance.
High visibility presence - PCs Mark Goodchild and Neil Gale on patrol Picture: ROBIN WOOSEY
In the space of one month last year there were 24 fires along Progress Road, all believed to be arsons.
Residents and shopkeepers have also had to deal with rocks being thrown through windows, eggs being thrown at houses, graffiti, racist taunts and mindless vandalism.
But officers are now compiling evidence about five key troublemakers and hope to make them the subject of anti-social behaviour orders (Asbos), like the one placed on Leigh teenager Ronnie Tretton last year - only the second ever in Essex.
Other initiatives include trying to open up one of the bars in a local pub as an alcohol-free zone for teenagers on week nights to keep them from causing trouble and reopening the old Eastwood police station.
Sgt Jack Lawmon, head of the Leigh community policing team, said: "These youths are basically just running riot in the Rayleigh Road, Progress Road and Kent Elms areas.
"We are talking about a small group of teenagers, some as young as 14, and going up to 17, who are causing a lot of public nuisance.
"What we need is a highly visible police presence.
"We have had a lot of support from the local people and we want to restore some good-old fashioned decency to the area.
"The steps we are taking already seem to be having positive effects and we are going to continue."
Senior officers have also agreed to extra patrols in the area on Friday and Saturday nights in the near future, and the old Eastwood police station is being reopened as a part-time police office next week.
Contact the Leigh community policing team on 01702 431212.
Published Thursday, April 10, 2003
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