Some questions for all parents -

Do you know where your teenagers are on a Friday evening?

Are they really at a friend’s house?

And have you checked your drinks cupboard lately?

The biggest problem in Marchwood at the moment is youth nuisance, mainly around the village centre. Would you be happy coming face to face with a group of up to 70 youths, many of them drunk?

Well that is what happens. Controlling anti-social behaviour is a joint responsibility. The police cannot do it alone. You would probably not believe the number of young girls we speak to who admit that their parents think they are at a friend’s house when they are really marauding the streets late into the night.

As part of the joint initiative I must give great praise to both Alldays and Marchwood Express who agreed to have a 21 age limit for buying alcohol at weekends. This was done in the run up to Christmas and was an instant success, with a substantial decrease in the number of anti-social incidents.

With regard to crime in the Waterside you might like to know that the number of reported incidents in the Parish during 2004 accounted for only 7.74% of the total. Although not nice for any victims of crime, it shows that Marchwood isn’t a bad place to live.

David Banks
Hampshire Constabulary.