Police reject criticism over attack on OAPs

Youths pelted Sunnyside Community Centre with stones and air rifle pellets, giving rise to fears that the crime concerns of last year were returning.

Kay Swetnam, from the local Neighbourhood Watch group, said that the police stance was inaccurate and gave details of five other incidents during the past month.

These included motor-bike nuisance offences, under-age drinking, suspected drug dealing and youths shouting obscenities.

In response, Insp Richard Scholey said: “I would never say there are no incidents to address, anti-social behaviour is prevalent in many areas and we do all we can to manage that.

“But what was being reported last year from this area was gangs of youths roaming around, drunkenness and people having sex in fields.

“We’re not getting reports of incidents anywhere near that at present.”

Three of the incidents involved motor-bikes, two of which were road legal.  Arrests were made after another incident at the community centre last Wednesday and two other instances of criminal damage were being followed up.

Insp Scholey said that a couple of the incidents did not appear to have been called in to the police and the report of suspected drug dealing fell into the category of police work that takes time to yield results.

“We can’t just go straight through doors after reports like that. It takes time to get arrests and search warrants through investigative processes,” he said.

“But we have responded in double quick time to the reports in Sunnyside.

“The best way for us to achieve success is for the community to work with us by continuing to report these sorts of incidents.

He added: “We are aware that anti-social behaviour is seasonal and March is a month we have  identified as a risk month.”

The next Partners and Communities Together meeting, which identifies police targets for the coming month, takes place within the Wentworth Valley Area Assembly meeting at St Francis Church Hall in Bramley next Tuesday at 6pm.