Public meeting called to tackle rising crime on Doncaster estate

A public meeting has been organised as residents on a Doncaster estate call for action to deal with '˜escalating' crime on its streets.
A burnt-out car is upside down on the footpathA burnt-out car is upside down on the footpath
A burnt-out car is upside down on the footpath

Both assistant South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Sioned Mair-Richards and the Mayor of Doncaster, Ros Jones, are set to meet residents of the Royal estate in Edlington to listen to their concerns.

Today it has emerged residents are so scared of reprisals, they are not reporting issues to the police.

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At the last meeting of Edlington town council one resident said the area was plagued by crime and antisocial behaviour on a daily basis.

He said youths were riding amok on motor cycles, without helmets and taunting local people.

He said the problems were particularly bad during mid afternoon when children were coming out of school.

The resident said yobs were smashing windows, vandalising the estate and burglaries had taken place.

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But he said even though the perpetrators were known, nothing was being done as residents were not prepared to give formal statements and evidence in court for fear of reprisals.

He added that police were suffering verbal abuse on the estate’s streets.

South Yorkshire Police are cracking down on yobbish behaviour in the former mining town and have put new plans in place.

But they have acknowledged that the fight is not over and there is still work to be done.

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Officers say they have made inroads, with arrests for drug cultivation and distribution and assaults.

More police officers have been brought in to patrol the streets, and there is some work going on behind the scenes with partner organisations to tackle crime from another front.

Supt Neil Thomas said possible young offenders were being identified early.

“We are working closely with colleagues from the Children’s Trust to look at young people that we have concerns about, as well as working with colleagues from the Youth Offending Behaviour Programme at trying to prevent young people entering the criminal justice system,” he said.

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Supt Thomas said that it was important that residents continued to report any issues in Edlington to the police.

He told The Star: “We are working proactively to deal with issues and some of that work is not always immediately obvious to the public,” he said.

“But the level of overt policing is often directly based around the levels of demand.”

A statement on the Edlington Town Council website said: “The Town Council has lobbied on behalf of local residents experiencing a variety of crime, break-ins and anti-social behaviour on the Royal estate and the Mayor of Doncaster Council, Ros Jones and Sioned MairRichards the Assistant PCC from South Yorkshire Police have agreed to attend a public meeting.

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“They want to hear first hand from residents regarding the escalation of criminal activity over the last few months and the fears that local people have of reporting such activities, for fear of retribution.

“The Town Council has no statutory powers to act other than lobbying appropriate agencies - police, local authority and fire service - to take action to address the behaviours being experienced.

It continued:“The Town Council has over the last six months, co-ordinated a multi-agency Task Group of these agencies and has met on three occasions to develop and review an action plan to tackle the wider underlying causes.”

The public meeting is on Thursday, March 30 at 10.30am in the Grainger Centre.