Southampton youths' anti-social behaviour terrorises businesses

BBC News

4 days ago

"Coming to work now is really scary for me," says Nnenna Okonkwo as tears roll down her cheeks.She is one of the many business owners and residents swept up by the rising tide of anti-social behaviour caused by teens and young people in an area of Southampton, Hampshire.Stories ranging from criminal damage and assault to vaping and smoking in shops have been regularly posted in local groups on social media since March. Though police say they are dealing with the offenders "robustly" and "proportionately" the accounts from those affected highlight that some of the youngsters lack respect for authority. Ms Okonkwo recalls the young people who targeted her business telling her "the police can't do anything, they won't help you".
Her current feelings are in sharp contrast to the "excitement" she felt when opening her international food store on Shirley High Street last year.Sunnyday was her opportunity to proudly share Afro-Caribbean culture with the local community and she remembers the "sense of achievement" it gave her.Things changed in May when she stepped in to stop two teenagers from "harassing" an elderly customer just outside the store."This shouldn't be happening on my watch," she thought.After intervening the teens quickly turned their attention to Ms Okonkwo and began abusing her. "I think that's when I realised I had a real issue," she said.The teens returned at a later date, when the store was closing, and Ms Okonkwo says a young girl kicked and smashed the window of the shop."I'm still really shaken about it," she says.Dabbing her eyes she adds: "It's ridiculous, it's just a couple of teenagers causing this mayhem."
Next door, Naani Shaik shares how he first experienced trouble at the start of April.He asked a "gang" of about 15 children to leave the Subway store he has managed for five years, after they began "drinking and smoking inside"."They started bullying, started breaking things here, breaking the equipment and they smashed the door," he says, admitting this sort of behaviour is a daily occurrence that is "making every day hell".Mr Shaik points to the shelves of cookies that are now protected behind by glass box after an occasion when a young person ripped them from the counter and dragged them outside the store.He says he has spent close to £1,000 repairing damage but admits he is struggling more "mentally" than financially.The young people have followed him and his staff home, berating them with racially motivated "abusive words" and "filthy language", even abusing his mother, he says.After schools finish, he says staff ensure they lock the door in between customers to try and stop the youths getting in.When he has threatened to call police he says the perpetrators have encouraged him and then also abused officers when they have arrived."Even though we know they are kids, their actions are not like kids," Mr Shaik says.
PC Tom Byrne, from Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary has been the local police officer for Shirley since February and he says he tries to patrol the High Street at least once a shift.He emphasises it is mainly "two or three main repeat offenders" aged between 12 and 16.He says "arresting a child is not the first port of call we want to take".Adding that when they do arrest them the majority of their parents are supportive and they do get "a good outcome"."I've been a neighbourhoods police officer for two years and worked with many young people across the city and it tends to be this kind of group mentality, that when they're in a group they try to impress their friends and a lot of it is boredom," PC Byrne continues.Councillor Christie Lambert, cabinet member for communities and safer city at Southampton City Council, said it is committed to tackling anti-social behaviour and was "saddened" to hear about the recent incidents in Shirley High Street. "We understand that a variety of circumstances can lead young individuals to engage in such behaviours, so we are incredibly grateful for our youth justice team and community partners who are tirelessly working with these young people, providing crucial support and guidance to help them make better choices," she says.
'It's not just Southampton'
Tony Weafer has lived in the area since 2008 and regularly posts about the incidents on his Shirley and Freemantle Watch Community Forum on Facebook.He says: "These children were not born like this, where is this anger coming from?"How did they get to this stage to be happy to break windows, damage doors and create havoc?"He believes social services, parents and schools need to speak with children and address why this is happening."Where are we going in this country? It's not just happening in Southampton, it's all over the place this sort of attitude - 'we are in charge, we don't care about authority, we do what we want' - and that cannot be the way that we are going in this country, it's not right."
Stu Garrod is a youth support worker for the local charity, Youth Options, which offers a range of services from youth clubs and social events to counselling and careers advice.He thinks having more youth services available would help reduce the rise in anti-social behaviour among young people.He says he went to youth centres a lot when he was growing up and had a very supportive youth worker."I just wanted to be that person that I had as a kid," he explains.Speaking from their weekly social session for seven to 12-year-olds in Millbrook, he says: "We always have a service for them to engage with if they want to."Back at the international food store Ms Okonkwo agrees that more clubs that get youths off the streets could help but believes they need to be something that the young people are genuinely interested in."I really wish that they would change their behaviour and get useful to the community that they live in - and not be a terror to the place where they live," she says.
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