Curfew. Is this the answer to teenage crime?

Daily Express - 10th September, 2008 (Nick Constable)

The estate could be any one of a thousand in today's Britain. Same petty vandalism, same under-age drinking, same foul-mouth abuse from feral teenagers, same sense of frustration among silent, law-abiding families who just want peace and quiet.

Yet for a few short weeks over the school summer holidays, the residents of Close Hill, Redruth, had a tantalising glimpse of how much better their lives could be. Already police forces across the country are clamouring to learn more.

The essence of Operation Goodnight is so simple you feel there must be a catch. Parents and children were asked to respect a 'voluntary curfew' in which under-10s were off the streets by 8pm and under-16s by 10pm.

Transgressors picked up by police, or reported by neighbours, were taken home for an old-fashioned backs-to-the-fireplace chat in the presence of their parents. Police say these visits were rare, parents were supportive and repeat offenders virtually non-existent.

The result has been a transformation - 'six heavenly weeks' as one elderly resident put it - in Close Hill after dark.

Devon and Cornwall Police yesterday (Tues) revealed that anti social behaviour reports fell by 60% compared to the same period last year. Crime generally was down 50%. And all this on an increased policing budget of barely £500, the cost of 50 hours additional PCSO (police community support officer) overtime.

Police are cautious about releasing precise figures, claiming there needs to be more detailed analysis. Close Hill typically suffers between 100 and 150 crimes a month - among the worst in Cornwall but by no means a national blackspot.

Even so, senior officers are convinced they have reduced costs to taxpayers because of the fall-off in serious incidents demanding an emergency response.

More importantly, they say Goodnight-style operations could work as well on the streets of London, Birmingham and Manchester as in deprived shire towns.

The obvious question is why, on such a lawless estate, did the overwhelming majority of 680 households support such tight restrictions on the civil liberties of their children.

Police explain this by pointing out that a small minority of Close Hill families were responsible for all the anti-social behaviour .

'We have seen parents and residents accepting the principle of self-policing,' said Superintendant Martin Orpe (correct).

'That means knowing what your kids are up to; why they're not home at night? And asking neighbours the same question?

'We're just the facilitators. We're there to support residents and back them up. But this idea has only worked because the community wants it to work.

'Other Forces have been watching and getting in touch. There are definitely elements that can be used in other areas around the country. Not just in rural towns but the major cities.'

In fact the Express has learned that seven police forces have already asked for a full de-brief. Presentations have also been made to senior officers and council anti-social behaviour teams in London and the Midlands.

Once all 680 households on the Close Hill estate have been visited by police to get feedback- a task which begins later this month - Home Office officials will also be briefed on the national potential.

Of course, the temptation is to dismiss the Redruth venture as a social curiosity - a policing experiment which could not be relevant elsewhere.

Certainly few tourists speeding along the A30 en route to some of Europe's most beautiful beaches have any idea that there is another Cornwall; a Cornwall of run-down, high-crime, granite-grey housing estates which sit comfortably alongside any inner city blackspot.

The locals know this partly because 'upcountry incomers' tell them so. 'What's Close Hill like?' said one native Mancunian. 'It's rough as rats, that's what it's like.

'There may not be guns and knives everywhere but the kids are totally out of control. I can't wait to get out.'

Even in daytime the evidence is there. Chipboard garden sheds kicked to ruin, crumbling breeze-block garages, graffiti-plastered playgrounds, passageaways blackened by fires.

The names of the roads don't help. The likes of Harmony Close (known locally as Aggro Alley) and Strawberry Lane somehow serve only to heighten the sense of shabbiness and despair.

Children are more victims than villains. Younger ones can no longer swing in the playground because Kerrier Council refuses to keep repairing the vandalised chains. Decent teenagers complain of feeling unsafe around those who are known trouble.

Margaret Peters, 49, was born on the estate and has raised three children here. Peters is not her real name, if she gave me that, she says, there'd be a brick through her window in days.

She says the collapse in parental discipline over two decades is 'absolutely terrifying'.

'I hate it here,' she says. 'I know Close Hill isn't unique, it's the same story across the country.

'But sometimes you can't walk outside your door without suffering a stream of effing and blinding from ten-year-olds.

'Under-age drinking is rife. The kids either steal it from home or get older brothers and sisters to buy it. At night the screaming and shouting goes on and on. 'Walk to the shops and the gangs deliberately block your path. If you're a woman on your own, or elderly, you don't risk going out after dark.'

Operation Goodnight, she says, was the first time in years she felt truly safe in her own home.

'It has worked really well, far better than we thought possible,' she said. 'But the schools have started again, the curfew has ended and things are sliding backwards.

'We need a night curfew all year round. Not just here but on every estate in the country which faces this problem.'

At the estate's local Co-Op store supervisor Andrew Curnow, 35, says the only failure of Goodnight was that it came to an end last Sunday at midnight.

'By Monday night there were teenagers back outside the shop, intimidating our customers,' he said. 'Locals were inconvenienced and we lost business. I saw several people just walk away because they didn't want to risk that abuse.

'We're a part of this community and we're doing all we can. We're the only store in Redruth where you have to prove youre ov'er 25 before we'll sell you alcohol. v 'The kids know the curfew is over and my feeling is that unless we get something to replace it pretty quickly we'll be back to the same old problem.'

PC Marc Griffin, the neighbourhood beat manager who has managed Goodnight, understands this view.

'But we can't rush into decisions, he says. 'In any case, it's not for the police to decide.

'If there is to be a legacy, and I hope there will be, the whole community needs to decide how it will work.

'Of course there are sceptics. There are people who say the streets were quieter because of all the rain we've had.

'But I've been walking the streets of this estate most nights during the school holidays and there have been only three occasions when the rain was so bad you'd expect it to keep people at home.

'The fact is that I've seen a real uptake of parental responsibility. I've seen vulnerable children feeling safer on the streets. I've seen the minority of troublemakers kept quiet.

'The success has been phenomenal and has had an amazing impact on the community. It wouldn't have worked had these people not wanted it to work. That's always going to be the key.'

Julian Commons, manager of the West Cornwall Anti-Social Behaviour Team, which covers both the Kerrier and Penwith council areas, points out that Operation Goodnight 'didn't just happen out of the blue.'

'We have been working for four years, with the police and the local residents association, to get neighbours talking to each other to know each other's kids,' he said.

'I'm very conscious of the danger of creating sterile environments. It's healthy to see kids playing safely and happily on the streets.

'I believe we've allowed them to do just that.

'The success is down to a lot of background work. What's perhaps most satisfying is that the residents themselves have controlled this, there have been no new laws, no expensive policing.'

Ann Mitchell, of the Helping Hands Residents Association, described the curfew as 'brilliant, absolutely brilliant.'

'I've sat outside in my back garden and its been wonderful,' she said. 'It was so quiet and you didn't have to hear loads and loads of abuse.

'All the residents I've spoken to say it has been an outstanding success. Elderly people feel they can walk out at night, mothers with young children haven't had to endure intimidation.

'I honestly think we've been allowed to re-claim our streets,'

Kerrier Council leader Graeme Hicks is convinced Redruth can shape policy across the country.

'I see areas where this will be a great asset in curbing the menace of bad behaviour on people's day to day lives,' he said.

'What we've seen in Close Hill is people coming together and saying: "We've had enough. This has got to stop."

'Parents of troublemakers are being made to realise that they have a social duty.'