Public meeting on youth crime held in Waterloo estate, Poole

Several residents told a public meeting how they had seen youths attract pigeons and seagulls with birdseed before shooting them dead with BB guns on Waterloo Estate in Poole.

Ward councillor Judes Butt convened the meeting attended by more than 30 residents, officials from BCP housing services and law enforcement at the Hillbourne Community Centre where grievances were heard and plans made to tackle anti-social behaviour and crime.

The Echo has previously reported on various incidents committed by youths on the estate including eggs thrown at houses, car windows being smashed, and vehicle theft – the latter incident resulting in a man being hospitalised.

Residents at the meeting on Tuesday told Cllr Butt, her ward colleague Cllr Diana Butler, the neighbourhood policing inspector for Poole, and others about more concerning behaviour – including the killing of animals.

Waterloo in Poole

It was felt by some that a lack of police presence had enabled the youths, aged roughly between 11 and 17, to “take over” the estate.

Tensions were raised when one man accused Cllrs Butt and Butler as having “lost touch” with Waterloo estate, stating they “don’t want to hear the truth”. However, several residents voiced disagreement with the man and Cllr Butt highlighted her arrangement and chairing of the meeting as evidence to the contrary.

The tide turned however, when neighbourhood policing inspector Danny Tamblyn said the Waterloo estate was statistically one of the least reported areas for crime and anti-social behaviour.

Dorset Police

He said the lack of residents reporting crime or ASB meant police can’t adequately built intelligence and ascertain patterns in incidents to respond to.

Inspector Tamblyn said: “When we say it’s happening ‘all the time’, it isn’t – and what I mean by that is that it’s not happening outside [24/7]. What we can’t do is put all our limited number of resources into this area on the off chance we might happen to come across something.

“What we can do is look at patterns. So if you call up saying there’s ASB, we will look at when has that has happened, where and what time. But what we’re finding is we’re not getting an awful lot of reporting.

“For the last 31 days in this entire area there were eight reports of ASB, and most of these were small neighbourhood issues.

French Road in Waterloo estate, Poole

“Essentially, the figures aren’t supporting a lot of what is being said – that doesn’t mean it’s not happening, it means we’re just not getting the reports to act.”

The point was highlighted when one resident spoke of an incident where she heard a young person say he “had a gun”. When asked by Inspector Tamblyn whether she had reported this, she said she hadn’t.

Suggestions were made such as the installation of doorbell cameras and keeping a diary of any incidents to report to police to aid intelligence.

As well as reporting crime via calling 999, officials said the best way to report ASB was by emailing 101@dorset.pnn.police.uk or by filling in an incident form at dorset.police.uk online.