Marple Town Centre Yobs

The comments are much appreciated; many of the people who actually viewed my story would have probably assumed that I was of a more mature age.  In actual fact I am only 24.  I now feel intimated and anxious to venture into Marple at night now and I am contemplating moving away from the area.  I believe that it if we do keep sweeping this problem ‘under the carpet’ it will only get worse.  It will not go away and there is no easy answer.  The things that make this great little village what it is are being jeopardised by a destructive minority.  There are many references to this problem of a similar nature in the site.  I would certainly welcome the crime log as an initial step. We must overcome this problem for the sake of the future of common decency and to avoid ‘no go’ areas for the innocent public. I am very proud to say where I am from and the fact we have this fantastic website long may this continue!

[alan@marple]

I am not shocked to read of "concerned local residents"  experience, but extremely saddened. What we need is a more visible presence of uniformed officers and Special Constables targeting the problem areas,more arrests and greater available punishment by the courts. I know that our area constables are "pulled out" and give of their best to serve and protect us.

So we should not "Knock" our local officers, but ask what our local representative on the Police Authority has to say about the concerns of residents and what can and will be done to make the community feel safer and more secure.

I would  be very pleased to read of  reports of satisfactory community service punishment followed by a further substabtial period of non re-offending.

I would suggest that custodial sentences should precede community service orders.

The light evening are approaching, could we perhaps have a "log" page on the website so that all the individual incidents are recorded and which might on some future occasion be presented to the appropriate authorities in support of our demand for a safer environment.


When is the next local Police consultative meeting?
Perhaps that might be the place to really get to grips with the situation especially if held in Marple.

I get so angry when I see these yobs around the Hollins and Market St and the Texaco Garage and frustrated when I feel unable to remonstrate with them for fear of physical assault.

MCC! ANY ADVICE?

[johnhoughton77]

I was shocked to read of your experience and wish you a full and speedy recovery.

I have always been a staunch supporter of the Youth in our local community and normally have plenty to say on the topic,  but on this occassion I am really lost for words.

I can only point the accusing finger at parents for not knowing what their children are upto,  those who supply the alcohol to underage drinkers,  the police for taking a soft approach,  but would express a greater concern that these teenagers are often encouraged on by others over the age of 18.

It would appear that the cameras in Marple are having not providing sufficient deterent by way of location or central monitoring.

My views are from observation and personnal experience.

My point is that having somebody register provides no protection whatsoever.

Anybody can sign-up for as many free email addresses as they like. There is no limit. Mark could limit log entry to registered users, but he cannot check who wants to register with this forum / site. All he can do is cancel their registration if and when he sees fit. The person can then just re-register with a different name/email address.

Also, rarely can users be traced via their IP address. Many have an IP address allocated on connection, some connect via proxy servers, some connect at internet cafes or wireless hotspots. Usually all the IP address would give is the name of the ISP.

Start a log by all means. This can be presented to the powers that be as evidence that there is a problem and something needs to be done. Far better than people just saying 'we have a problem on the streets' without being able to quantify it. But with a viewable log it would be very difficult to give anonymity, its not just the userid, its the location which could be in the entry, i.e. my house on the corner of abc street was vandalised.

I will reserve judgement on the idea of a support group. I don't know what they would be expected to do or achieve. Images of Charles Bronson walking round Central Park doing his bit against crime in Death Wish spring to mind.

Don't get paranoid about this. Its a very, very small minority, probably just a handful, causing a problem. All we really need is a police presence. I read that there is one police officer for approx. every 400 people in this area (figures may be slightly out but not far). Marple has a population of about 23000. So, being simplistic we should have about 57 police dedicated to Marple. Obviously it doesn't work like that. Some are needed on Motorways, in city centres, in the stations, etc.  But we should definately have more than we do have.

Wilmslow businesses are now paying to have a small number of extra officers on duty on weekend evenings. Perhaps thats the answer.

I am writing to you to express my first hand experience and views on the ‘youth culture’ or indeed more directly the ‘scally’ mentality that is inherent in the borough.  As a resident of Marple for more then 20 years I found myself on Friday night to be a victim of such behaviour.  I was with my partner and a friend picking up a takeaway when a gang of youths verbally abused us.  Unfortunately although this is not acceptable I accepted that this is indicative of the modern society, however after no provocation this turned into a physical attack by the youths and subsequently we were all assaulted.  In a short space of time there were numerous more youths arriving, until it appeared one had a weapon and actually caused damage to my car.  

The police arrived and did contain the situation which was fortunate, however my point is this sort of behaviour should not be acceptable.  We have a problem in Marple of youths hanging about on the streets, drinking alcohol and abusing the public.  This problem occurs in Stockport and the surrounding villages, there should be police that can target youths for at the very least underage drinking and have a more overt presence.  This problem can only get worse and as a community it is up to us to stand up and say that this is not going to be tolerated.  I would welcome the readerships views on the subject and I would appeal to the public’s good nature to write in and comment on this. I am surely not the only person in the borough that is angered and frustrated by this.

[MCC Executive Committee]

May we recommend that the following website is inspected:
www.stockport.gov.uk/saferstockport
At our meeting in February "Anti Social Behaviour" issues will be on our agenda, "Criminal acts", which often follow from anti social behaviour are also an issue in Marple, the two activities are separate, but of course are often related.
We would support an open Community Meeting and have written to John Houghton on this matter, before we go ahead, we would like to hear from yourselves concerning the following:
- "Yes" or "No" to an open meeting to discuss issues.
- Would it be your wish to confine the meeting to residents  
 Â  only ? nb no outside agencies.

Please look at the web site above, also you may want have a look at how others are dealing with these problems within their own community, in particular many sites define the range of the problem and include the "weapons" available.

Please let us know how you feel about a meeting, reply here or email us on mcc@peacefield.fsnet.co.uk
Thanks