Police crackdown on youths

Robbery, assault, theft, criminal damage and vehicle theft is mainly carried out by a hard core of teenage persistent criminals.

Sergeant Ian Cooke said: "At the moment it is the same names which keep cropping up.

"We have a problem with two or three offenders who have been robbing and assaulting foreign students in Lancing and two or three yobs committing violent crime in Shoreham. There has also been a spate of graffiti being committed by a small group of youths in Shoreham.

"We arrest them and they are eventually charged. But most are bailed by the courts and carry on committing offences."

When the new Sussex-wide style of policing was introduced in February, Adur police boss Chief Inspector Martin Walker vowed to make the sector the best performing in the UK.

At the time, Ch Insp Walker admitted that while crime was up in Adur, most of it was committed by young people aged from 11 to 20.

As reported in past editions of the Herald, youths have:

Thrown stones at a group of foreign students in Grinstead Lane, Lancing;

Robbed a foreign student of her handbag in Mash Barn recreation ground, Lancing;

Burgled a pensioner's bungalow in Cokeham Lane, Sompting;

Tried to snatch a till from a convenience store in Shoreham while drunk;

Daubed graffiti with spray paint all over walls in Nicolson Drive, The Finches and also in The Curlews.

There has also been the usual incidences of petty crime, like illegally riding scooters around The Broadway, Lancing, setting fire to rubbish, trespassing around the harbour area and shoplifting.

Sgt Cooke added: "The message to these youths is we will arrest and charge you and put you before the courts.

"We will also consider using more anti-social behaviour orders on those persistent offenders, who make life a misery for law-abiding residents."