Petition calls for police action over Shefford yobs

The town has seen a rise in anti social behaviour over the past few months.

The final straw was incidents yesterday where drivers were pelted with snowballs as they drove through the town.

There are also claims a police patrol car called to the incident, was also pelted.

The petition says:

“We the people of Shefford, are currently experiencing a severe case of anti social behaviour by a small handful of young residents. Their behaviour has now gone past a nuisance factor and these reckless actions are putting lives in real danger.

“In recent weeks we have seen a stabbing, we have seen two men violently assaulted and we have seen many numerous, daily examples of menacing and intimidating behaviour on our quiet streets.

“As a result many of our residents are scared to walk on our quaint country high street, causing an impact on the local economy and a fear factor in this small town. There are elderly and vulnerable people scared to leave their homes to visit the local shops, library or community facilities in this sleepy little town.

“Today in periods of heavy snow our local residents driving their cars were pelted with snowballs on the main road causing a real danger to driver and pedestrians, the police were called and yet even when these yobs threw snowballs at the patrol calls these police officers reportedly failed to take any action.

“When our own drivers stopped and asked the teenagers to stop they received very hostile and intimidating treatment. This has now gone too far and intervention is required. With a stabbing and severe assaults by this small collection of teenagers it’s only a matter of time before someone is killed. We the residents of Shefford insist that action is taken in way of regular patrols and meaningful police intervention. To that end we ask that the PCC attends a public meeting to discuss the residents concerns, ideally with our MP Nadine Dorries in attendance.”

People have been expalining why they are signing the petition.

One said: “As an ex police officer I agree totally with the comments made. I am aware of the despair of local residents & some recklessly willing to ‘take the law in their own hands’ to their own detriment. The small group of delinquent drug dealers need to be dealt with properly by the Police. If this isn’t done soon there will be a fatality I have no doubt.”

The petition can be found at https://www.change.org/p/pcc-bedfordshire-pnn-police-uk-callfor-action-by-kathryn-holloway-for-shefford