Police-led youth club initiative helps cut anti-social behaviour

Anti-social behaviour in the Brandhall area of the West Midlands has been cut by a quarter following the introduction of a police-led youth club.
The Branzone Youth Safe Haven Project was set up last summer by police community support officer (PCSO) John McNally of West Midlands Police to provide youngsters with something to do to keep them off the street at night.
With support from PC Michael Handford and Greenacres Children’s Centre, which shares a site with the local primary school where 84 windows have been broken by vandals, the centre now has almost 100 registered users.
As well as keeping youngsters off the street, it is proving an effective crime deterrent as youngsters caught causing trouble in the local area face being banned from the club for a week.
An average of 40 youngsters, aged from 11 to 17-years-old, attend the weekly sessions and it is hoped that extra funding will be secured for the next 12 months to allow the project to run two evenings a week to provide more activities, including an open day with input from colleges and universities and a summer trip or camp.
PCSO McNally said: “Branzone is designed to reduce anti-social behaviour in the community by taking youths off the streets and providing activities and positive role models in the form of coaching staff, youth workers, Greenacres staff and the PCSOs.
“We decided we needed something because all the youths we were stopping for anti-social behaviour and hanging around street corners and parks said they had nothing to do.
“We had a meeting and Greenacres said we could use its centre which is fantastic. It has been a lot of hard work, but it has been worth it. Figures for December showed a reduction of 25 per cent in anti-social behaviour, with no reports of windows smashed at the school.
“Branzone has been well received in the community and is proving essential for local youths as there is no other facility to cater for them.”
Local people have also realised the value of the club, with residents helping to fund equipment for the project, such as a table tennis table.
PCSO Nicola Giorgio, who helps to run the sessions, added: “I think it’s great. When I moved here I saw the respect all the youngsters have for PCSO McNally. They call him by name and they talk to him on the street.
“The club is really popular and is making a difference in the local area and the youngsters are getting to know and trust us.”
Maxine Burrows, centre manager at Greenacres, added: “It has been a really big success for the area and for the school. There were a lot of concerns when we first started it, but it is working really well.
“They now see the school as their property and they look after it and respect it.”