Joint approach reduces town centre disorder in Glenrothes

As part of a concerted effort to tackle the concerns, police in Glenrothes joined forces with fire officers in a bid to crackdown on the problems following several weeks of criminality, including assaults, vandalism and deliberate fire setting, which has plagued the area and resulted in a spike in emergency service call outs.

Youngsters as young as 12 were targeting the bus station and surrounding town centre area throughout the daytime and during the evenings.

“It’s the first time we have had all involved parties including social work, schools, business owners as well as the fire service and ourselves around a table to discuss the problem,” explained Kenny Greig, community sergeant.

“And it’s that approach, whereby we’ve worked closely with the youngsters to understand their issues, that has made this one of the best success rates in recent years.

“We increased patrols, but also worked closely with schools to try and understand what the triggers were for this type of anti-social behaviour and how early intervention could actually prevent crimes and acts of vandalism from taking place.

“The feedback from the business community and residents has been very encouraging.”

The joint approach has also brought a significant reduction in the number of malicious fires over the school holiday period, which has proved the most problematic time for fire crews in recent years.

A monthly ‘young persons forum’ set up in the wake of the crackdown on juvenile criminality and anti-social behaviour within Glenrothes town centre is the way forward , thinks sergeant Kenny Greig.

“Communication is the key to the success both in terms of the agencies and groups involved, but also with a continuing dialogue with those previously causing the problems.

“A new monthly meeting is proving very beneficial in flagging up any specific concerns early on.”