A TEENAGE gang’s reign of terror in Darton has resulted in police vowing to take action in the coming weeks.
Officers involved in the crime reduction project relating to two areas - Dearne Street and Bridge Street - have started to gather information on the culprits and some suspected offenders have already been identified.
Residents on Dearne Street have been receiving antisocial behaviour surveys after police instated the issue as a priority at a meeting on Monday after a spate of crime, including criminal damage.
Bridge Street’s residents will also take part in the survey in the coming weeks, police confirmed.
Sgt Dave Baines said: “The information we receive will be worked on but in the first round of surveys we had four replies from 55 letters sent, which is a very poor return.
“Bridge Street will be next, so hopefully it will draw out specific concerns. There are issues on both and we believe they’re linked, but it was important to treat them individually as we did not want to use a sledge hammer to crack a nut.
“It’s important to point out that any completed surveys are confidential and names and addresses will not be made public.”
According to the police, youngsters identified have already received visits at their homes and received antisocial behaviour warning letters.
Acceptable behaviour contracts have also been mooted, which are signed by the police, the offender and a parent or carer.
They include items which the youth must adhere to and, if they are caught being involved in any antisocial act, they will then be issued with a community protection notice (CPN) before court action can be pursued.
“I’d encourage residents to fill in the survey as the more information we have, the better equipped we’ll be,” Sgt Baines added.
