People in Denny fed up with youth disorder - and waiting too long for police to respond to calls

The community of Denny came together this week to say it has had enough of a small minority of young teenagers making life “hell” for much of the population.

Although the situation in Denny and surrounding areas is described as “the worst we’ve ever seen” by residents, they acknowledge that it isn’t an isolated problem, but what they want to be different is working with police, schools, Falkirk Council and other partners to find a solution.

At a meeting organised by Denny & District Community Council held in the town’s library on Tuesday, the community came together to highlight how bad the issue had become to Falkirk area commander, Chief Inspector Lynsey Kidd, and Community Inspector Colin Sutherland.

One couple spoke of over three years of being terrorised by youngsters who regularly congregated outside their home close to the town centre. “It’s awful, said the woman. “They’ve damaged our car, thrown eggs at our windows and basically terrorised us.

"Once when I called 999 as I was afraid for my family’s safety it took three days before the police got back and asked if I needed help. I said that I did but that was three days earlier. It’s shocking.”

Others at the meeting said they often were on hold for two or three hours trying to get through on the police non-emergency 101 number, with many saying that they gave up before speaking to anyone. Many adding that they no longer even tried to call police for help because of previous long waits.

Staff in the town’s Co-op store say they are “petrified” when working backshifts with the knowledge that groups of youngsters will come inside, often trying to shoplift or causing a disturbance.

One woman said: “An example is a girl came in who was barred from the shop for stealing, when I told her leave, nine others outside the shop called the police saying she was being assaulted. Within ten minutes three police cars and six officers were in the shop. Yet when we call 101 we never get through.

"If I call 999 or hit our panic button then I have to spend ten minutes writing up a report, taking me away from other duties.”

Free bus passes available to five to 21-year-olds in Scotland were also blamed for allowing youngsters to travel to other places causing havoc before getting a bus home.

Denny Library staff said that they were happy to provide people of all ages with a warm, safe environment but they cannot tolerate any trouble. “We recently had to call the police when a gang of about 30 refused to leave. It’s their library as much as anyone else but they need to behave,” said one librarian.

Councillor Paul Garner said: “I don’t like to hear that there is anything wrong with my town but what we’ve heard tonight is the worst I’ve known. Some of the incidents we are hearing about are really appalling. And it’s not just youngsters from one school but I wonder if we can do something to tackle the ring leaders.

"There was a similar problem in Larbert and Stenhousemuir and action taken there proved quite effective so I’m wondering if the same can be introduced here.”

Denny High headteacher Paul Dunn said there was over 1400 pupils at the school but only a very small minority were ever involved in anti-social incidents. He said: “The vast majority are decent kids who get as scunnered as everyone else with those who cause trouble.

"I’ve a group of youngsters who every year raise money for local old folks homes, Strathcarron Hospice and other causes. We organise regular litter picks to clean up the area and I never have problems getting volunteers. There’s lots of good kids out there.”

Community councillor Sharon Shaw, who spearheaded arranging the meeting, said it would be good to get more details about setting up a Neighbourhood Watch, as well as finding ways of interacting with the young people.

She said: “I’ve been to the parks and spoke to groups and they all say there is nothing to do. Going forward we need to work together and continue speaking to the youngsters to see what we can do.”

Inspector Sutherland said statistics showed the level of crime in the Denny and Dunipace area was no worse than anywhere else. He told town centre businesses that talks were ongoing to hopefully introduce the Shopsafe radio system to this area as a “bolt on” to the system currently operating in Falkirk.

He said: “We also continue to have our permanent police officers in high schools, including Denny, who are doing a lot of good work.”

Chief Inspector Kidd said that she was concerned to hear about the community’s problems attempting to contact police, particularly through the 101 service. Urging people to continue to call when help was needed, she added: “Our figures show that we have a good response rate to calls but I will definitely feed this back.

"It’s well documented that all public services, including Police Scotland, are facing budget cuts but we are doing the best we can with the resources we have.”

The police chief was repeatedly asked how many officers were working in the area and could respond to incidents. She said: “As well as our uniform resources, we can call on specialists from across the area, including dog handlers, road policing and even mountain rescue if needed. However, our job isn’t just about enforcement, it’s also diversionary activities and we have to deal with issues such as this from lots of different angles.”