It is very dispiriting to read about the recurring vandalism in the Town and Bridge Community gardens at the Maidenhall Allotments.

This part of the article is quite important, so I’ll repeat it:

Anyone with information should call Police Community Support Officer Rebecca Hillyard at the South West Ipswich Safer Neighbourhood Team on 01473 613500.

I’ve written about the vandalism in that part of Maidenhall before and talked to the police about it.  Last year it was one of the Southwest Area Neighbourhood Team’s priorities and action was done to at least damp it down.  This year it is not, and that is directly related to the fact that not one councillor appeared at the meeting where police priorities were set this year.

That’s what comes of being seen as a safe ward.

At the South West Area Forum I made the point that there was a growing pattern of teenage vandalism on the Maidenhall Estate, and that this was a small and persistent group. The councillors for Bridge had more important things to do and unlike the other three wards did not even have one councillor present, after all the police were only setting priorities for the area – an exercise where Bridge came off very badly.

It is only getting worse. The Stoke Green Baptist church has been vandalised. Here’s the police report:

On Friday 23rd July between 7.45pm and 8pm on Halifax Road, Ipswich offenders have thrown a large stone through a window at a church.

A group of eight white males between 14 17 years old wearing sports clothing and carrying rucksacks were seen to run off at the time.

Were you in the area at the time, did you see anything suspicious? Do you know the name of the offender or offenders? If you have any information please contact Suffolk Police on 01473 613500 quoting reference IW/10/3280.

Here’s the link if you want to give information on line:

http://www.suffolk.police.uk/News+And+Appeals/Report+Information+To+The+Police/Tell+The+Police.htm

I was working from home today so I walked around Rectory Road, which is where I used to live. In my old house, and one of the neighbouring house there are three holes in the windows that look like they are bullet holes. They had been made on Saturday night.

I talked to people in both houses and they think that it is simple vandalism with an air gun, but this needs to be verified and whoever has done this does need to be tracked down.

There is a school of thought on crime prevention that is known as the “broken windows” theory. This is the belief that small crimes should not be overlooked as they lead to bigger crimes. This is a literal example of the broken window. It should not be seen as an act of simple vandalism, but a crime where a gun was aimed at an occupied house.

I will be keeping tabs on the police investigation.

The problem with the database state is that it criminalises ordinary and harmless people while the louts go free.  Whether it’s policewomen not allowed to look after each other’s children or headmasters being sacked for out of date fishing licences the criminalising of the harmless seems to be the abiding failure of law enforcement today.  The ID card will of course take this further.

Anti-social behaviour is a real and very nasty stain on people’s lives.  Even down to firebugs burning grass on Wherstead Road or raucous all night parties on Rectory Road, this is when the streets start to get out of control.  No ID card will sort that out if all the kids get is a kiss, cuddle and caution.  Crime and anti-social behaviour is caused by a small minority of people, and the system should be focussing on that minority, not the vast majority who may overfill their dustbin after Christmas.

Luckily there is a group in Ipswich that wants to do something about ID cards.  They should be in the town centre next week.