Teenagers in Shetland

[da ness tattie man]

I hear there will be large police presence on the street on Saturday. Malcolmsons are doing a sponsored doughnut throw. The target is to be police mouths............yum yum yum

[Richie]

This whole business of throwing a cake in the door? An annoyance at most but hardly that serious. Yes I admit it isn't the nicest thing to happen but we should think about how lucky we are in Shetland. Down in Glasgow more than one of my mates have had the s**t knocked out of them for looking 'funny' at a ned. Another friend was stabbed as he walked around the corner from his local pub one night, by someone he had never seen in his life. I think complaining about a fancy being thrown into a shop really isn't that great a deal. But thats just me. I can see where the other side of the argument is coming from as in Shetland we are not used to this. Commercial street is heaven compared with Argyll Street on a Saturday night though.

[da ness tattie man]

Did anybody see the boy getting arrested on the Street today.

 

I was there about half 4 when a cop was speaking to scruffy teenager. When I cam back from the post office the same cop walked upto the same scruff bag who was kicking a football and said right! your under arrest.

 

I must admit it was good to the see the cop dragging the lout off the street by the scruff of the neck.

 

Lets hope we see more of this over the school holiday.

[JustMe]

Richie wrote

 

This whole business of throwing a cake in the door? An annoyance at most but hardly that serious. Yes I admit it isn't the nicest thing to happen but we should think about how lucky we are in Shetland.

 

Serious enough if it lands on a pile of expensive Shetland knitwear in a shop that probably relies on the short summer tourist season for most of its profits.

 

As for youths hanging around at the cross I reckon they have as much right to be there as I have unless their behaviour starts to spoil other peoples day in which case it is good that the police are starting to take a bit more interest in peace keeping duties.

 

I do somewhat sympathise with the police who might well feel that the sort of sentences handed down by the Sheriff or the Reporter of the Childrens Panel do little to curb persistent offenders behaviour. Perhaps a look at worldwide justice systems and the way they deal with young trouble makers might be good.......or then again they would have to employ a consultant who would have to visit places such as Iceland and the West Indies to research the project.

 

Anyway I did see some police people on the street this morning.....will help to reassure people worried by youths behaviour.

[Willies_landy]

Yesterday afternoon I parked my car on Church Road and then wlaked to the Camera Shop. While wlaking past the Den Of No Good (SYIS) I was almost hit by a youth kicking a football. Now can K Smith of SYIS say it is nothing to do with them, maybe she will. But on looking back this same ball kicking fool went straight into her premises.

 

When I cam out of the camers shop I was witness to a male person getting arrested after I was forced to walk around the spotty youth kicking a football.

 

Thank you to the police for taking a stance against these youths and helping to return our street to the decent folk.

[Ghostrider]

I do somewhat sympathise with the police who might well feel that the sort of sentences handed down by the Sheriff or the Reporter of the Childrens Panel do little to curb persistent offenders behaviour....

 

I have no sympathy in the slightest, it's the job of the Police to arrest anyone committing an offence, regardless of the seriousness of that offence, or how often they've arrested the same person previously, that is what they're hired, and paid to do.

 

It is not a Police matter how someone is subsequently handled by the Court/Panel, that is within the remit and responsibility or other people. All the Police are supposed to be worrying about is bringing to the attention of the court/panel alleged offences. If how that offence, once proven, is dealt with, is not a deterrent to the perpetrator, maybe if the Police were to arrest persistant offenders repeatedly, either the offenders would get tired of the hassle, or the court/panel would try a little harder/more imaginatively to deal with the person in an effective manner. There is more than one way to skin a cat, whatever happened to; "If at first you don't succeed, try, try, and try again".

[da ness tattie man]

I have no sympathy in the slightest, it's the job of the Police to arrest anyone committing an offence, regardless of the seriousness of that offence, or how often they've arrested the same person previously, that is what they're hired, and paid to do.

 

Having been the victim of crime I was told by the police that if I could not provide a statement they were powerless to do anything. I have since learnt that the police just can't arrest people for alot of crimes and they need statements to bring the thugs to justice.

[JustMe]

I have no sympathy in the slightest, it's the job of the Police to arrest anyone committing an offence, regardless of the seriousness of that offence, or how often they've arrested the same person previously, that is what they're hired, and paid to do.

 

 

Perhaps someone older and wiser than me can confirm this but as I understand our legal system the police do have a lot of discretion over arresting people committing an offence Perhaps just as well or the entire police force could be at the police station dealing with the paperwork involved with people urinating in public places while serious crimes were happening at the cross.

[peeriesooky]

out at da street da ither day, and along wi a ganfg of kids standing bloking da street right across fae da stage door to rae's jot moving for onywan (not even folk wi buggies) instead jumping around rite in deir faces etc. Add tae dis da fact dat wan o dem at set fire tae da bin ootside da hydro by putting a lit fag in it. Is dis still merely teenage high jinx, or do we actually accept dat, yes, it might no be as bad as da inner city areas of glasgow or even aberdeen, but do we have tae wait til it dus get dat bad? would it no be better tae teach da kids respect fir ithers etc noo, rather than wait til they've mugged/attacked sumwan as this is a serious enough act tae deal wi?

 

Nonsense. onything dat disrupts da lives o ithers, even if it is jist playing footy in a crowded area like da street or flinging fancies in shop doors is at da very least a breach, and deserves at da very least a stern talking to and warning o future behaviour by da polis. Do we want tae continue turning a blind eye to "minor" acts, thus encouraging da potential o mair serious acts later?

[whodat]

JustMe, I don't know about wiser, but I'm probably older and I've met enough and seen enough in action in my time (here and in other places) to say, yes, you are right, they (Polis) do seem to have "discretionary powers" when it comes to huckling folk. Their arrest must be "in the interests of justice" or to stop the numpty from continuing their stupid behaviour and committing another crime. Otherwise they (Polis) can just charge there and walk away. As YOU so wisely pointed out, if it wasn't for that, EVERY person who'd had a wee bit to much to drink and stopped in a darkened doorway/lane/other public place would be lifted. That seems a bit extreme to me. Is Ghostrider calling for that sort of action? First step (or next step, depending on how you look at it) to a Police state. As for repeat action, I thjink they do that anyhows as it always seems to be the same names every single sodding week in the court news o' the Times.

 

Not an easy topic to provide any answer to.

[whodat]

In support of peeriesookie, I was always taught not to let a bully get away with it. That way they just get worse and worse and worse. The behaviour of some o these kids on th street is just the same as bullying sometimes. Sad, bored little kids trying to make themselves feel better about themselves by ganging together in groups and making growling noises or intimidating decent folk. Obvious parallels with everything fron rats to dogs, although they'd probably fancy themselves more as lions!

 

Don't let them away with it or it'll carry on and it WILL get a lot worse than it is already, don't fool yourself into thinking otherwise.

 

Any older person who has lived in and seen the cities change (or even watched it on the news) knows that it starts with the kids, because when they're adults and parents, they will pass on to their kids that it is acceptable behaviour and okay to treat others with contempt and disrespect.

[shy skylark]

In support of peeriesookie, I was always taught not to let a bully get away with it. That way they just get worse and worse and worse. .(......) it starts with the kids, because when they're adults and parents, they will pass on to their kids that it is acceptable behaviour and okay to treat others with contempt and disrespect.

 

 

Well said!

[Ghostrider]

JustMe, I don't know about wiser, but I'm probably older and I've met enough and seen enough in action in my time (here and in other places) to say, yes, you are right, they (Polis) do seem to have "discretionary powers" when it comes to huckling folk. Their arrest must be "in the interests of justice" or to stop the numpty from continuing their stupid behaviour and committing another crime. Otherwise they (Polis) can just charge there and walk away. As YOU so wisely pointed out, if it wasn't for that, EVERY person who'd had a wee bit to much to drink and stopped in a darkened doorway/lane/other public place would be lifted. That seems a bit extreme to me. Is Ghostrider calling for that sort of action? First step (or next step, depending on how you look at it) to a Police state. As for repeat action, I thjink they do that anyhows as it always seems to be the same names every single sodding week in the court news o' the Times.

 

Not an easy topic to provide any answer to.

 

Nope, Ghostrider is most certainly not calling for a Police state, I would be among the first to be creating hell against it if it occured.

 

My post was made in reply to the insinuation made in JustMe's post which I quoted, that perhaps the Police tended to turn a blind eye to a certain amount of petty offences, on the grounds that it simply wasn't worth their trouble. The measures applied by the court/panel being of only minimal deterrent, and nothing was likely to change regardless where they took the offender in or not.

 

Discretion, the ability to assess each case in it's own right, and apply what they ajudge as the best solution in the public's interest, is a very important and valuable aspect of how the try Police do their job. However, to reiterate what I did say, that discretion should not be allowed to extend to the Police all but ignoring certain offences simply because they feel teh court/panel is impotent in dealing with them. The simply creates a self perpetuating circle, if they bring no-one in, "officially" the crime is one that rarely if ever happens, and the ineffectual status quo methods of addressing it will remain in place.

 

It is not within the remit of the Police to make judgements on the work of the court/panel, their limits of discretion should only extend to the facts on the ground at the time the incident is brought to their attention. Viz. the prevalance of the offence in the area, whether the individual(s) concerned were known faces or not, what the impact of the offence is/was on the public involved, the probability of the individual(s) continuing to offend if not removed from that particular location at that time, the probability of "copy-cat" offending if the particular incident seems to have been ignored, etc etc....

 

One of the main tools the Police have in influencing the court/panel in finding effective solutions to problems, is to demonstrate to the court/panel/general public how ineffective current solutions are, by returning repeat offenders time and again. To simply more or less ignore certain offences because the Police feel the solutions are useless, that changes nothing and effectively legalises those offences. That's fine if it's an offence that has little or no impact on the public either individuals or in general, but something quite different when it does.

[j3ova]

This afternoon myself, my partner, my mother and nephew decided we would go to the play park seeing as it was an alright day weather wise.

 

We arrived to find most of the park taken up by teenagers (ages between roughly 14 - 17year olds).

 

They were either on the swings taking up both sets, lying about on the floor surrounding the kids climbing frames and just generally being a bit of a Nuisance.

 

I didn't expect to take my 6 year old nephew to a play park in which 1, he can't use much of the equipment because of these teens 2, The majority of these teens are clearly expressing their love for each other but prehaps not ideal in a childrens play park and lastly 3, These teens can be quite scary for a 6 year old child.

 

I understand that Shetland maybe doesn't have an awful lot for these teens to do, but maybe Islesburgh or another more appropriate place would suit them better?....After all, a playpark is for all ages but surely once you get to a certain age it should be more frowned apon to allow 14 + into the park, christ most children now a days 14 + act like young adults, I don't particularly want my nephew to hear or see some of the things that get said or done.....and why should i feel cautious about taking my nephew/or partner's children to a "mean't be to" child friendly place?

 

If i am out of order please feel free to say , This is of course my own opinion......

 

(***Mod Edit - Merged to new thread about Teenagers in Shetland***)

[shetlandpeat]

That is a well written post j3ova.

 

It sorta reminded me or what I used to do when youngish and with age I can see how others may have felt...

 

But we were never too outragous, and we had the hill to invade, which we did most days, it was about getting outa sight.

 

When even younger, we used to play the golf alot, and get peerie bottles of vimto offa an auld fella who kept the greens, was in the 70's.

 

I also used to help the greenkeeper at the Gilbertson Park, on a Saturday, again mid to late 70's. We would repair the football pitch markings and generally tidy up.

 

Sadly, I did not remember who these guys were, they were both alot of fun and I think may now have passed on.....

 

Perhaps the hill could be un-fenced...I did try to go and look at our old hangouts but too many barriers now.

 

I suppose for a moment we could be thankful that these people were not any more obsene as here South, they can be very intimidating sometimes.