Kicking Anti-Social Behaviour Into Touch Reels in Results

Football and fishing are the order of the long summer days in Shrewsbury, with sessions run by local police and community support officers to keep young people off the streets.

The McDonald's football training sessions and Environment Agency sponsored Get Hook in Fishing events introduced a couple of years ago continue to go from strength to strength.

On Sunday 1 August, there will be an open day at Greenhous Meadow, home of Shrewsbury Town Football Club, where youngsters can go and find out more about the football project, which is aimed at reducing anti-social behaviour in the Meole Brace area.

And on Thursday, Get Hooked on Fishing youngsters will be joining forces with the police, Shropshire Anglers Federation and the Environment Agency for a second, large-scale clean up of the Reabrook.

They will be cleaning up the brook itself and banks from the bridge at Burnside Gardens, downstream towards The Brooklands pub.

Sergeant Darren Smith, in charge of policing for South Shrewsbury, said during the last clean-up they had filled two large vans with dumped rubbish, including pushbikes and even motorbikes.

"Get Hooked on Fishing and the McDonald's sponsored football projects have now both been running for a number of years and have proved massively successful in reducing anti-social behaviour through diversionary activities," he said.

"However, it is not just children who cause a problem that attend, all young people are welcome to get involved and have some fun."

This week is Respect Week in Shropshire, an initiative aimed at highlighting the work going on by police within communities to deal with anti-social behaviour and encourage greater tolerance among local people.

Anti-social behaviour remains a high priority for West Mercia Police, with a large number of diversionary schemes running alongside enforcement across the force area.

Fishing and football sessions will continue throughout the summer holidays. For more information about where and when events are held, contact our local policing teams for South Shrewsbury on 0300 333 3000.

Issued: Thursday 29 July 2010