Officer praise for tackling yobs

Parents of the unruly youths have been threatened with eviction

Two police officers who brought an end to a campaign of vandalism and intimidation waged by youngsters on an estate have been officially praised.

Louise Russell and Pc John Cornellius have won commendations from Thames Valley Police's chief constable.

They enforced "acceptable behaviour contracts" on four boys causing trouble in Berinsfield, Oxfordshire.

Staff were said to be too scared to go work at the Abbey Sports Centre because of the abuse from the youths.

The contracts they had to sign carried the threat of eviction for their parents from their housing association homes if the trouble continued.

Showing these youths there are people in the world who are suffering and have less than them increases their appreciation of what they have Pc John Cornellius

After they were issued, the problems came to an end.

Anti-social behaviour officer Ms Russell, a civilian worker, said: "When we had enough evidence of who was causing the problem, a letter was sent to their parents asking if they could bring their child to a voluntary meeting to discuss what had been happening.

"At the meeting the teenagers were spoken to individually about the problems they had caused and how people were being affected by their behaviour."

Five ten-year-old boys were also issued with acceptable behaviour contracts after throwing stones at windows and building sites.

They are now involved in a project set up by the two officers to raise money for a day care centre for orphans with HIV in Kenya.

Pc Cornellius said: "Showing these youths there are people in the world who are suffering and have less than them increases their appreciation of what they have and the environment they live in."