Police on the beat welcomed as an opportunity for community policing to make a difference in Garden City

Recent anti-social behaviour issues in the area have included groups of youths pelting passing cars and the windows of houses with stones and eggs.

In an effort to crackdown on such issues and engage with the community, the North Flintshire Policing team has been focussing on the area.

Most recently this saw officers patrolling the community on Wednesday.

16 officers had been visiting residents in Deeside, Flint and Holywell that were considered vulnerable to burglary as part of Operation Blue Lolite.

Afterwards, some of the officers were asked to visit Garden City.

Support Sergeant for North Flintshire, Matt Subacchi said: "We had positive feedback from members of the public following the foot patrol in Garden City. It was received very positively."

"We will be a community-based operation and prevention is key to what we want to do. We want to work with partners in the community in a joined up approach to deal with these issues.

Sealand councillor Christine Jones had raised the issue, saying some Garden City residents, many of them elderly, were experiencing problems on an almost nightly basis.

She said: "It's brilliant and I hope it will be aregular occurance. It's great to see police officers in your ward because it makes residents feel more happy and content.

"Officers on the beat is what we've always wanted. This new way of community policing is really going to work.

"But the police can't do it on their own, we have to engage the community, councillors and all the agencies. We've got to work together. It has to be a partnership, a joint effort. I think we can succeed. We are feeling positive about the policing in our wards."

Previously Sgt Subacchi told the Leader how officers wanted to engage with young people to help them understand the seriousness of anti-social behaviour.

He added: “We have seen incidents where anti-social behaviour has turned into low level hate crime.

“The majority of the time its groups of youths that have said something they shouldn’t have, something that perhaps they don’t understand is derogatory or, if they do, they don’t understand the consequences of it.

“There is some education work needed to be done there to prevent further incidents."

Cllr Jones added that, when coronavirus measures allow, she looked forward to the police engaging with young people in Garden City.

She added: "The youngsters get bored so they hang around the streets. They can throw stones or eggs. It seems like stupid anti-social behaviour, but it really upsets people.

"We need a way of that group not looking intimidating, we need a way for those youngsters to be engaging with the community again. We don't want them to be thinking they're they enemy all the time. If we can get the community police getting to know these youngsters, and having a sense of trust and respect, I think it can be good. It can't be them and us, it has to be mutual."