High visibility patrols are the latest tactic in the Wickford police battle against youth nuisance.

But the town's vandalism and graffiti hot spots were surprisingly quiet when we beat with Community Liaison Officer PC Geoff Whiter.

The extra patrols are aimed at heightening the police's profile in areas where youth nuisance has reared its destructive head.

But PC Whiter says it is impossible to predict when problems will emerge.

Tonight's patrol is relatively uneventful. But on other nights officers may have to confront vandals, deal with crowds of young people or respond to a new string of graffiti attacks.

PC Whiter says: "We are constantly told by residents about the problems surrounding youth nuisance and this is one way in which we are addressing it.

"We have identified four distinct areas which we will be patrolling on foot _ the Nevendon Road area, the Wick, Runwell and Shotgate.

"These patrols are in addition to our normal workload so we are maintaining our presence in other important areas like the High Street."

We walk past Nevendon Park and see the graffiti daubed walls of buildings used by a pre-school and other community groups. It is easy to see why graffiti is such an issue in Wickford.

According to one woman we spoke to, the last time the graffiti covered walls were painted over by the council, the vandals had returned to spray their messy tags before the paint had even dried.

PC Whiter said: "The vast majority of young people in Wickford are straightforward and honest. A minority, however, cause problems.

"Most incidents of this nature occur in the evening, but that can be on any evening.

"Some nights we can patrol these areas and find nothing going on, but at other times you may find more than 100 youngsters congregating in one place."

PC Whiter highlights playgrounds, school premises and parks as targets for vandals and also points out large crowds of young people can often intimidate nearby residents so they need to be monitored.

The patrols are, however, only one part of the police's strategy.

PC Whiter said: "It is all about partnership: police officers cannot solve the problem on their own. We need to work with Essex Youth Service and Basildon Council to provide young people with things to do."

Funding for these High Visibility Patrols comes from the money made available to Basildon Division for recruiting new officers.

Because of problems with attracting new recruits it was decided to invest the government funds into providing additional policing operations _ in the Billericay area, for example, high visibility patrols are keeping a check on the increasingly lively High Street.

Tonight PC Whiter has only a few problems to deal with although he stops and chats to several groups of young people as he progresses through the Nevendon Road area and on to the Wick.

Later in the evening he will stop a young girl stripping bark from a sapling planted by developers on the Wick Meadows estate.

It is only a small incident, but pointless damage like this can kill a young tree. In response PC Whiter adopts a constructive approach _ speaking to the girl's parents and telling her about the serious impact of her actions.

He even asks her to monitor the trees in the area to protect them from further damage.

He says: "We may walk down a street hundreds of times and not be noticed by residents, but we are aware of the areas which cause people concern and we are now actually patrolling those locations.

"We have had a lot of positive feedback about the patrols and hopefully that will continue."

On the beat: PC Geoff Whiter takes reporter Ben Hall on a high visibility patrol

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