Comments on: Vandals use concrete roller to pull down cricket nets

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 07 May 2008 10:00:33 +0000

Thanks to everyone for their support and ideas.
Mike, this paint is used in some areas of the ground such as on top of the storage areas and in areas where it may be possible to climb on top of the building.
We decided against it on the poles for the reason that the netting would also become covered in this paint as it rubbed against the poles and then so would we get covered in it everytime we handled the netting.

New bolts were fitted to the poles on Monday to allow us to more easily hoist the netting up and down each game so hopefully from this coming weekend we’ll finally have a system of being able to reliably use the netting to its full potential whilst being able to completely remove it when its not in use.

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 02 May 2008 21:59:42 +0000

You say they climb up the poles. I know you can buy intruder paint, which is like tar. If it gets on your clothes its very hard to wash out, plus fingerprints remain on it afterwards. This stuff doesn’t cost much, and it lasts for years. Very useful on drain pipes too. If you try and stick it on the pole so far up, during the night they wont notice it and hopefully get tar all over their clothes.

Just worth a thought…

By: SR

SR — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:30:14 +0000

Good call flurfy..

By: Flurfy chicken

Flurfy chicken — Fri, 02 May 2008 14:19:21 +0000

I agree with the electrified wire mesh idea, should soon stop them vandalising!!

As a lot of people have mobile phones with cameras on these days – how about photographing some of these little darlings and publicly displaying them?

By: SR

SR — Fri, 02 May 2008 11:59:42 +0000

Guys, I think this is just another case of issues at Baileys court, see the forum for the issues that have been occuing some nights over there. There appears to be a hard core group of around 12-20 kids that seem to cause most of the trouble. So far the police have said they cant do anything in relation to a dispersal order becuase no one rings them to tell them. So please encourage people to call the local police number to raise such issues.

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 02 May 2008 11:48:31 +0000

I think for the police this is like most other problems of this type.
1. Knowing who actually committed the act. Unless you see them doing it, even if the group is still there, you couldn’t prove which of them had actually caused the damage.
Though the dispersal order last year was brilliant for preventing large groups gathering and it would be great to see it in place again, a lot of this damage was still done during that period.

Measures can be taken to help with this, more cameras, more residents and visitors to the area having the police number stored in their phones so that they can report this sort of thing as soon as they witness it.
But that brings you onto problem 2 which needs to be dealt with at a much higher level and until people stop going on about the rights of the criminal and worry more about the rights of everyone else, it won’t get sorted out….

2. What happens to these people when they are caught. Do we never see them again??
No, they’re back out doing the same the next night, even more intent on causing trouble because someone was rude enough to complain about them.
They need to know their actions will have SERIOUS consequences. For the police it must be very frustrating catching criminals and then having the same trouble with the same person/people the next night. But not half as frustrating as it is for the residents/victims.

Until these ‘people’ have some level of respect for others instilled in them at home, and there is a criminal system which they fear, I can’t see this problem going away. A big shame because most of the community are great people who want the best for their area and their families so its important we don’t let a very small minority stop us from still trying to do the right things.
Just be nice if the system was geared towards protecting the majority who have good intentions rather than the minority who want to cause trouble.

PS: For anyone thinking I’m getting a bit excited about a bit of netting, its not just about this.
Smashed windows in the buildings, water pipes cut, areas where its obvious children are going to be playing used as a toilet, burning benches and equipment in the play park, even had the childrens slide cut in half with a saw!!

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 02 May 2008 10:58:51 +0000

Having 3 young children of my own I can’t stand it when I see others ‘at risk’ over there. On the VERY rare occasions I’ve hit the ball that far!!, I have to look away!
So no matter what happens, I’m getting that netting in use somehow.

For this weekend it may only be halfway up, but on Monday we plan to take all the posts down (again!!) and fit yet more and yet stronger brackets. So hopefully after Monday it will be in full use.
(I wonder if these vandals have some sort of commission scheme set up with B&Q!!)

I would still always encourage people when they are near a cricket pitch to keep half an eye on the game.
But I also want to encourage people (other than the vandals) to feel welcome at the cricket ground. Along with Bradley Stoke Town Council who have always supported any improvement work we try to do, we want to help make it a nice area for everyone to make use of, not just for cricket matches.

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 02 May 2008 10:20:26 +0000

Mark,

One other thing – as a user of the park myself (well my daughter does anyway! )- thanks for putting the net up (or trying to!)!!