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Where Is Your Child Tonight
Where is YOUR child night?
8 December 2008
That’s the question being put to parents by Strabanes Community Safety and District Policing Partnerships new publicity campaign. The campaign aims to encourage parents to make sure that they know the whereabouts of their children at evenings and weekends, particularly during the Christmas holidays.
At the recent launch of the Christmas advertising campaign Councillor Derek Hussey, Chair of the Community Safety Partnership said; “We want to encourage parents to be more aware of what their youngsters are or could be involved in when they’re not supervised and also appeal to them to take a little more responsibility in ensuring the safety of their children. It is essential that as parents we are aware of what our children are doing, where they are going and who with.”
The PSNI receive lots of complaints about young people causing a nuisance. Many are justified, others a misunderstanding about why youngsters congregate. Councillor Hussey continued, “Please ensure you know where your children are and what they are doing, where they are going and who with. Impose boundaries and expectations so they understand the limitations and how to be responsible people. It is nodefenceto declare “I didn’t know what they were doing” when a policeman calls to tell you your son or daughter have beenvandalisingproperty orterrorisingpeople in theneighbourhood.”
Chair of the local District Policing Partnership, Councillor Thomas Kerrigan stated: “Parents have a key role to play by ensuring that their children aren’t responsible for anti-social behaviour. We ask that you know what your child is up to when they go out with friends and to make sure they know how their actions may affect others living in your community. We encourage parents to know what their child is up to, as it is too easy for children to become a victim of crime themselves or to be coaxed into doing something they do not want to do.”
To coincide with the district-wide advertising campaign, the PSNI Neighbourhood Policing Teams will be stepping up patrols in the District to clamp down on anti-social behaviour, and Licensing Officers will be targeting shops and pubs selling alcohol to under 18s. Extra patrols will target known hotspot areas throughout the district at weekends, where large gangs have been congregating.
It has been well publicised in the local and national press over the past few months how binge drinking amongst children and young adults is becoming more common, and the implications that it may have with regards to health, but more importantly the anti-social behaviour and disorder that goes hand in hand with it. Many people living in the District are fed up with the noise, litter and damage caused by youths loitering in residential areas. This campaign is not a lecture to parents on how to look after their children but is a strong message to parents to make them aware of what goes on in the area, and for them to also be aware of the consequences of what might happen to their child if they are caught breaking the law.
