It comes as more than 75,000 households in Kent are to be surveyed about how police respond to crime and anti-social behaviour.
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00:00The summer holidays are just beginning on the Isle of Sheppey, but it's not the fear
00:05of a rainy August on locals' minds. They're worried about troublesome teenagers.
00:09Sheppey's one of the best places you want to come. But the anti-social behaviour, we're
00:14the third thing in Kent for anti-social. So basically, I've got a broken nose from anti-social
00:19behaviour. What do you reckon?
00:22If you stop someone in the high street, they'll likely tell you they've rarely seen a police
00:27officer, something the force says they hope to change.
00:30We will increase patrols over the school holidays and we also now have child-centred policing
00:35officers in every area in Kent Police. So they will be out on patrol in the town centres
00:39and areas where we do have sort of ASB hotspots. But unless we're getting the reports, we don't
00:44know where else it is. So we need to know about it and then we can go and deal with
00:48it.
00:49When it comes as Kent's Police and Crime Commissioner has just released a survey to
00:5225 crime hotspots, Sheerness being one.
00:57It'll ask a series of short questions to see if targeted local patrolling can drive down
01:02crime.
01:04And in this area, there are often reports of shoplifting and just a couple of years
01:08ago, this children's park was set on fire.
01:12And Brian lives opposite. He believes firmer action is needed.
01:19Criminality is not treated properly. Too many people are getting away with it with
01:25a slap on the wrist and that's not good enough. So if that's all they're going to get, people
01:31don't care whether they get caught or not.
01:35The senior youth worker at this centre says they've been a victim to funding cuts over
01:39the past 10 years, reducing their operation to a fragment of what they once were.
01:44And if you want to put one word on it, there's a lack of positive activity in young people
01:49today. And that's why we've got a problem. Because young people have got more energy
01:54than we have and if you don't channel it in the right place, they can be a problem. But
01:59you give them the activity, they will put that energy and burn that energy up and they
02:04will enjoy themselves and keep themselves out of trouble.
02:08The questionnaire from Kent Police has been sent to more than 75,000 households across
02:12the county.
02:13However, what action the force chooses to make will then be reviewed by residents in
02:17a follow-up survey, this time next year.
02:20Gabriel Morris, in Sheerness.