Time for Solutions

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 23rd July 2012

Just home from meeting tonight at Belfast Castle where a community safety event took place. In attendance was the Police, Youth Justice Agency, City Council workers and of-course hard pressed residents. I was there after being invited by a colleague who is a resident but also a member of the newly formed Policing and Community Safety Partnership, so I was there to listen.

As usual the issues were predictable but nonetheless real, especially in terms of the impact on the quality of life of the residents. If I had closed my eyes I could have been in a venue in any part of the city and the conversation would have been similar.

The perennial issues of youth drinking and the associated behaviours featured heavily as did the gathering points for young people and the intimidation felt by local residents who are having various missiles hurled at their homes on a weekly basis.

What is clear about the issues raised is that there are no easy solutions, in fact the frustration in the room was palpable and what was clear is that some residents are at the end of their tether. That's because we are talking about low level anti community behaviour that tends to impact on only those it directly touches but which can have a very high impact on those people. It was clear the residents most effected had been the victims of someone else’s success as on numerous occasions we heard from the police and other residents that the group of young people and their behaviour was being displaced rather than dealt with on a regular basis. The idea of displacing the problem and moving it on is a common outcome of many of the approaches to these types of issues as they, the “solution” very often doesn’t challenge the behaviour that makes so many peoples lives a misery. This is what we need to start and achieve if we are to truly get to grips with these issues.

Education, personal development, mentoring, youth services and restorative dialogues could form some of the responses. Equally support for communities from statutory agencies particularly around the engagement of parents and the inclusion of those stakeholders in problem solving conversations and approaches. Law enforcement also has a part to play in that keeping residents safe is vital and interventions will be needed for specific behaviours but also in terms of dealing with the irresponsible sale of alcohol to young people, that of course means challenging big business. It’s high time that the alcohol business lived up to their responsibility to the wider community and rather than prosecuting young people for street drinking prosecute those who sell alcohol illegally.

Equally there should be a framework for residents to engage with these young people around the relevant issues and how best to deal with the issues in sensible manner. Residents in my view need to develop tolerance for young people, as many of the youth are engaging in nothing more than nuisance behaviour in a way that is not malicious and most certainly not criminal.

The keys to these issues are in my view to be found in a restorative dialogue, working together and to see the statutory sector as enablers to do this. Where appropriate police enforcement is needed, design out crime initiatives welcome, a hotspot template created and developing positive alternatives to the street corner culture that these youth have bought into like so many across the city.