Episode 5 Neighbourhood Blues

Neighbourhood policing has come a long way since the days of Dixon Of Dock Green.

Good evening, all.

From inner-city estates to suburbia...

..this new generation of community police officers are on the frontline.

-Police!

-They're there to listen to the concerns of the public...

Clearly, you people care about your communities.

..and tasked with wiping out the crimes that take place on your doorstep.

You're under arrest, mate.

All in a bid to make the streets where you live a safer place.

Coming up...

The team mount a search to find a local man who's gone missing.

He's not been seen now for getting on for 48 hours.

They've had no contact from him at all.

Things could be about to go off with a bang when an unexploded bomb is found.

We've decided to do an evacuation of the building.

And the police bring the victim of a charity-box theft face-to-face with the young lads responsible.

And you realise what you've done. I think you do realise what you've done.

Neighbourhood police teams work around the clock to ensure

residents' complaints about crime get a rapid response,

but sometimes they're called in to action for a very different reason -

such as when a much-loved member of the community goes missing.

Over a quarter of a million people go missing in the UK every year.

When out on the beat, neighbourhood teams are always on the lookout for any new faces

-who may have found themselves living rough or on the run.

-I've not met you before.

The police work alongside the Missing Persons Bureau,

a dedicated centre for recording and helping to trace people who have disappeared.

Together, they try to help families work out what's happened.

There are a number of reasons why people go missing,

from small children to people in their 80s.

Over the last year, we've dealt with just short of 2,000 missing reports for the whole area.

The majority of those 2,000 cases, people were located safe and well.

We need to know as much about that missing person as we possibly can,

so we have to work quite closely with families and, obviously,

it's a distressing time for them - so we need to be sensitive

to their feelings and what they're going through, but also that we're

there to do a job and we need to get this information from the families.

Over in Hull city centre, PCSOs Richard Wheelen and Alison Carter

are making a beat-walk when they get approached by two worried youths in a car.

So he's been reported missing to the police already?

Their friend, a popular local lad called Stuart Gilson, has already

been reported as missing, but they are also out searching for him.

Alison tries to get some more information from them.

Anybody else he was with last night, have you double-checked with them?

-I was with him.

-And when did he leave and that kind of thing?

Right. Has he got anything on his mind or...? Depression or worries?

No?

One of the lads gets out of the car to tell her what he knows.

Events surrounding Stuart's disappearance become clearer, as Richard explains.

Last night, this lad was out drinking with his friend in the city centre.

Got into a pub about half past ten time and then his friend

just disappeared, left him with his mobile phone.

It's out of character. His friend was due to start work in Germany

and set off on the ferry tonight and he's not turned up at all, which is out of character.

Now it's over 24 hours. They're quite concerned for him.

Alison reassures his friends as best she can that the team are now onto it.

As I said, you're doing all the right things, really. You really are.

But she also prompts them to rack their brains for anything

that may prove to be helpful in finding him.

Think about the little things, the daftest little things -

he might have gone there or he might have done this or...

Things like that can sometimes spark a memory.

-All right, but don't worry.

-Thanks a lot.

-We'll do everything we can.

-Yeah.

-All right, no problem.

-Cheers, thank you.

These are very concerned friends for a male that has been reported as missing.

It's very out of character for him to just disappear

and not contact his friends and family.

They're all very concerned because he was due to go to a new job

this evening at 6 o'clock and he's not turned up for that either

so we've just hopefully given them a little bit of advice and trying to give them

a bit of reassurance, really, that they are doing all the right things

and that anything that they hear, they need to contact us

as quickly as possible to make sure we can help with that as well.

Find out later if CCTV showing Stuart's last known steps

leads the police any closer to finding out what's happened to him.

Whilst listening to the public's concerns

and cutting crime may be the driving force behind neighbourhood policing,

the teams are on call 24/7 to deal with

any kind of emergency facing the community,

and today they have a particularly explosive problem on their hands.

Over at Queens Garden station,

the neighbourhood team have received a frantic call into the office.

Steve heads up the team sent to investigate.

Our local auction house, called Gilbert Baitson,

they've found what they believe is a large World War II bomb in a box.

During the World War II, Hull was a prime target for the enemy,

with thousands of Nazi bombs dropped in a bid to destroy the port and shipbuilding docks.

Defence guns also fired at enemy aircraft, and many bombs and shells did not explode.

And, as the team have just discovered,

some of these unexploded devices can turn up in the most unlikely of places.

Mindful that any live explosives from the old bomb may be unstable,

the team block the road to prevent any new traffic from entering.

We've got to determine if it is a live or dud shell.

We don't know that. We're not qualified to say.

We're going to have to call the MOD out. If they believe it is,

the first thing is, obviously, instigate an evacuation procedure

for the local residents round the area - that's what, just what we'll be starting off with now.

Steve makes his way to the auction house to investigate further.

We're going to have it checked out, aren't we?

He nervously handles the shell before putting it to one side.

-Where was it found?

-In the box, in there.

And the dangerous antique is a first for the auctioneer.

I started in this business in 1955, which is 56 years ago,

and this is the first time we've had a purported live bomb

in the sale room.

The bomb had been in the sales room for some time before it was spotted by someone browsing.

I was looking through this box - it's quite an interesting box,

a lot of old stuff - and I found what I think is a mortar bomb,

and it certainly looked live, feeling by the weight of it.

Back outside, Steve has just put up a cordon around the sales room

and has more information about the bomb's origins.

This shell has come from a deceased relative's property,

but also, that deceased relative, their father was in the war,

so we don't know if it's from the First or Second World War.

I don't know if the shell has actually been decommissioned.

Believing that the ammunition could still be filled with live explosives, protocol dictates

that there is only one course of action - to call in the Army.

Catterick have asked us to evacuate the building, which we're going to do.

Go and break the news to Mr Baitson.

The auction house is filling up and ready for the sale to start.

It's up to Steve to break the bad news to the auctioneer.

-I'm afraid you have to evacuate your offices.

-I can't do that.

-You're going to have to do, sir.

-I can't do that. It's my busiest day of the year.

The building's been evacuated, all personnel have been escorted outside,

the building's been checked, there's no persons on.

We're waiting for the arrival of the MOD coming from Catterick.

And it's not just the auction house that has to be evacuated.

-It's every house and building in the street.

-Right.

Find out later if things go off with a bang, or if the police are dealing with a dud.

In Humberside, the neighbourhood teams are always looking

for new ways to tackle crime and deal with social problems.

Today, Carole is going to be using a relatively new form of mediation

called "restorative justice"

to try and solve a serious issue.

The three brothers had gone into the cafe,

which is where we're going next,

and while it was really busy - cos it was a sunny day - they tried to steal the collection charity tins,

for the Help For Heroes charity.

So they'd made off, but they didn't get very far -

they literally got outside of the cafe. They were jumped on by some boys,

because people feel really strongly about that particular charity.

Help For Heroes is one of the UK's most high-profile charities.

It works with injured servicemen and women,

and helps them rebuild lives that were potentially ruined in war zones such as Afghanistan.

The charity offers access to excellent care

and facilities to restore their health, confidence and esteem,

helping them to overcome major injuries and live a normal life.

But the work they do is extremely costly and, like all charities,

they depend on the generosity of the public to support them.

The most traditional way of doing this is by putting change

in one of their charity boxes. As you can imagine,

the theft of one of these could be found to send a shockwave through a community,

but the crime would be made all the more worrying

if it was found to be carried out by a group of children.

Margo and her husband have owned the Park Cafe for the past six years.

She was shocked to discover that youths had stolen the charity money.

With them being young boys, it's quite upsetting, you know, for...

And for the staff and for the customers.

It isn't just an effect on what they actually did,

it was effect on how it upset everybody else.

And for Margo, the theft is about more than just the money.

Help For Heroes is very close to my heart,

because I've got a brother, nephew...

and my sister-in-law are all in the Forces

and at Afghanistan at the moment.

Carole has high hopes for the meeting.

Got a lot of experience with running these things

but I think with the people involved and with the boys themselves as well, who I've met,

it'll be a good session.

And I think they'll come away with something rather than just being

thrown into the criminal justice system and forgotten about

and ending up with a criminal record. It's not helping anybody.

We'll try and get an outcome for the boys and for the people that are taking part,

so that everybody comes away feeling like they've got some kind of resolution, really.

Restorative justice acts as an alternative to a criminal record

and research has shown that this approach drastically decreases the chances of youngsters re-offending.

To get the message across to these boys about what they've done and the enormity of what they've done

and the strength of feeling behind that particular charity at the moment

and they do have a brother, a half-brother, who's serving in the Army at the moment as well,

so the significance of that is already there with them. They just need it bringing out.

And shop-owner Margo also agrees it's the best available option.

I think it's a really, really good idea.

Carole and her team, the girls that work with Carole,

are very, very good with the youngsters round... Excellent, in fact.

And if we can stop another youngster from getting involved in crime,

that's all we want. That is all we want.

You know what I mean?

Carole will organise a session

where the boys will be invited to meet with Margo and others affected by the theft,

and we will be back later to see how they get on.

Back in Hull city centre, the neighbourhood team have launched a major missing person search

for a young man called Stuart Gilson who has not returned home.

During their late-night beat, PCSOs Richard Whelan and Alison Carter

met some of Stuart's worried friends who were out looking for him.

As dawn breaks, a major search is now underway,

with over 30 neighbourhood officers trying to gather information

in a bid to retrace Stuart's last known movements.

Richard and Alison are back out on the streets.

They've got photo ID and posters of Stuart

that they are handing out around the community.

Just at the moment we're doing searches

for a missing 21-year-old male, Stuart Gilson.

He was approached last night by some of his friends.

He was reported missing after visiting a pub in the city centre.

He's not been seen now for getting on for 48 hours. We've had no contact from him at all.

So we're just visiting all the local offices on the high street where he was last seen,

searching all the sorts of areas, the bin areas, storage cupboards,

just see if there's any sign of him anywhere.

Checking any places he might have gone in to get out the cold,

and hopefully find him safe and well somewhere.

Every available neighbourhood officer is now out looking for Stuart,

but there is still no sign of him.

We've done a search of the ship now, checked it both internally and externally.

Unfortunately no sign of him there, so we're moving off now, further down the river bank

and check the rest of the out-buildings and bridges and see if there's any sign of him there.

The team search causeways and walkways along the river,

but their search doesn't turn up any obvious evidence

that Stuart had passed through there.

This is the mouth of the River Hull

where it comes out into the River Humber.

If anything has got washed up on the river, it normally ends up on the sandbanks,

either side of the river, so we'll just check both sides and on the main marina itself,

just to make sure there's nothing... no sign of anyone round there.

Something the police hope will help in the search

is any CCTV that may have been recorded.

The CCTV footage from the actual pub itself is inconclusive at the minute,

I think because of the sheer number of people coming in,

so they're still looking at that now,

and they're also trying to tie it in with the City Council CCTV footage

to see if we can pick him up on camera arriving outside in a taxi

to confirm if he does actually go inside the building or if indeed he just walks off.

So we should have a result with those in the next couple of hours at least.

There's officers doing that now as we speak.

Knowing that CCTV footage is crucial in these cases,

it's been all hands on deck over at the city's CCTV command centre.

And there's been a breakthrough.

The staff have been scanning hundreds of hours of footage

recorded by the network of over 300 cameras

and the detective work has paid off.

They've found footage of Stuart crossing the bridge over the river.

The footage proves that the police are searching in the right area,

but find out later if it leads them to working out

what may have happened to Stuart.

In the past few years, there's been a tenfold increase

in the number of people wanting allotments. The growth of the grow-your-own culture

has also seen major increases

in thieves targeting plotters' sheds for tools,

and even their furrows for vegetables.

Today, Sam Gregory is responding

to a call for help from some local allotment-keepers

who are under attack from vandals and thieves.

We're at Marfleet allotments on Marfleet Lane.

Basically what's happened is, we've been...

Some crime reports have come in for the allotments

to state that they've been suffering crime,

as in sheds have been broken into,

they've had cabbages and that stolen.

We do have more crime on here,

but we don't get the crime reports through.

They're more than likely to chat to other people and say, "By the way, I had my shed broken into."

So what I want to do is also get them to come forward and say to us,

"I've also been a victim of crime," because unless these people do this,

we don't know how bad a problem it is on here.

At the minute, I've had three crime reports for the last couple of months,

but more than likely, there could be a crime happening on here every night.

So it's about educating and getting people to report it to us.

Nigel and Steve are all too familiar

with the criminals' handy work.

The kids will come in early-ish, smash everything

and then...the other ones, they come in.

That's all on...

..steal to order, basically.

Right, is this your allotment?

-Yeah.

-This one's yours?

It doesn't take Sam long to pinpoint ways the allotment keepers

can try and improve security on the site.

Obviously the lads have had their sheds broken into.

We're trying to get out shed alarms to them,

but obviously we need to get a letter out to ask them

not to keep anything in the sheds that's valuable.

Thieves have sawn through the hinges of this container,

and even a nearby toilet has come under attack.

He does say that it's a toilet but they obviously think there's something else in it,

so it might be worth us putting a sign on it just to say that this is a toilet that, erm...

-No valuables.

-There's no valuables!

One of the biggest issues is the perimeter fence.

It's proven to be no obstacle for opportunistic criminals.

Cos obviously we've got an awful lot of fencing here to have heightened.

From crime prevention, we've got the nice wooded area there.

I've noticed that they've already tried to spring one of the pailings.

They get beyond that hedge, it's a hiding point.

Sam's quickly realising this problem adds up to much more than just a few stolen cabbages.

So a shed had gone missing, a full shed, but no-one's reported it.

-No, we haven't had that one.

-400 quid, he said.

£400 shed?

-Who puts a shed on an allotment for £400?

-Yeah.

Somebody with too much money on his hands!

Sam thinks the gardeners' best chance of tackling crime on the site

is to pull together and to form a tenants' association.

Cos in the end, if we can get

the tenants to take responsibility for the site and know who to go for,

then hopefully we can get this up and running

and a lot more people will want to come on here.

With a plan of action in place and some help from Sam,

the allotment-keepers now have the tools they need

to start making changes.

I'm going to be working with Hull City Council, with Andrew,

and get some letters sent out to the tenants, to get them to look at

what they're keeping in the sheds and obviously to report stuff to us,

cos we do care, you know, and we want to help these people.

We don't want them to sit there and say, "What's the point of reporting it?"

Find out later if the allotment gets fortified

and the criminals are kept out.

Over in Hull,

a major search is underway to find local man Stuart Gilson.

Despite CCTV footage and witness sightings giving the police a fix on his last known whereabouts,

still no trace of him has been found.

Worried family and friends gathered overnight,

anxious for news as the search continues.

There's a group of friends, family, all come in to try and assist with the search.

It's a group that's been arranged on the social networking site of Facebook.

People have seen it and just turned up to come and search.

This is fantastic for us. They've all got T-shirts on of him,

they're all trying different areas, different businesses,

anything that, you know, can assist the police.

As day breaks, the search is resumed,

this time tasking the Marine Unit to help.

As you've seen, the search teams are out today,

the specialist underwater search unit are searching the River Hull.

Nobody wants to think that anybody has fallen in the river,

but it's something we have to cover as part of a police search team.

The CCTV footage has been useful

in helping to trace Stuart's last known steps,

but only up to a point.

CCTV has now been released

to show that the missing person's last footsteps

were across a bridge in the city centre.

Unfortunately, the CCTV doesn't show him coming off the other side.

It shows that there's some steps just out of camera shot

where it's possible he may have gone to make his way home on foot,

and that was unfortunately the last sighting of him,

so the search teams are working out from a radius from that point.

Whilst continuing his own enquiries on land,

Gareth gets some information from the public.

We've just received a call on the radio stating a member of the public

has possibly seen a body under Drypool Bridge at the River Hull.

A diving team move in to take a closer look.

-OK?

-Basically, they've disregarded it as some debris,

but it's worth calling somebody out to disregard that,

so that's been done and patrols are now standing down.

Very sadly,

Stuart passed away as a result of a tragic accident on March 10th.

It's a real tragedy that a young person's lost their life in such circumstances,

but I think the tributes on the bridge from the public

just show how well-respected he was. It is a tragic loss of life.

There was an awful lot of community spirit from the city residents

in relation to trying to search for him,

and the balloons and the tributes are just a real mark of respect.

An inquest discovered that Stuart fell into the river by accident.

There is now a campaign to get the railings and barriers

which run along the river made more secure.

Over in Hull city centre, an entire street has been evacuated

following the discovery of an unexploded World War II bomb

at a local auction house.

The Army has been called in.

PC Gareth Walker has been placed on escort duty

to give the bomb squad officers safe passage.

The bomb squad will have come down from Catterick.

We have to take them through to the site where the unexploded bomb is

so they can make it secure and remove it, if needs be, to do a controlled explosion.

Our job now is to push them through the traffic on blues and twos,

so we can get them to the scene as quickly and safely as possible.

Once on the scene, the Army men go in to assess the missile.

Two bomb disposal from the Royal Logistics have just gone in to obviously assess the device.

Just waiting for an update from when they come out.

The sarge's initial analysis suggests it looks like a live shell.

However, when examined by the Army's portable X-ray machine,

it turns out to be a dud with no dangerous explosives packed inside.

-I take it they can carry on their business?

-Yeah, crack on.

-Back to normal.

-Is that it?!

-You've had an exciting day, haven't you?

-Great, isn't it?

Certified as being safe,

the Army take the shell back to base for disposal at an ammunition dump.

Yeah, we've had the bomb disposal lads check the device.

They've done a controlled X-ray of it,

found out it was a spent cartridge

and they've now taken that away for disposal.

I'd like to thank them for their assistance.

They did say that we was right in calling them,

cos to the untrained eye, can never be guaranteed that they're spent or live

and they've asked us to, any future calls, call them again.

Back at the auction house, the auctioneer is glad the drama is over and business can resume.

We weren't sure whether it was still full of cordite or not but we just had our doubts.

But it had been hanging about in people's houses for 50-odd,

60-odd, maybe 100 years, so...

..we handled it carefully.

Neighbourhood policing is all about making the police

an integral part of the community.

Being seen out and about, listening to residents' concerns

and finding a workable solution to their problems.

PCSO Sam Gregory walks around 70 miles a week

working her patch in the Marfleet area.

She's a familiar and friendly face to locals who often approach her

about problems where they live.

-Hiya, you all right?

-Yeah, you?

-Yes, thank you.

But Sam's also got a keen eye for trouble,

and it doesn't let her down today

when she spots a kid stranded on a youth club roof.

Right, get down! Stop being stupid!

Right, how did you get up? INAUDIBLE REPLY

Pardon?

Well, what are we going to do, then?

Right, so am I going to have to call up

and get the fire brigade to come and get you down?

Sam is not amused and wants to know how the boy got up on the roof.

Right, why are you up there?

Pardon?

You got bored.

Sam is concerned the boy may injure himself, so calls the fire station.

Yeah, I'm down at The Hut on Preston Road. Is there any chance we can get the fire brigade

to come and get a young lad that's on the roof of The Hut?

He's telling me that he can't get down cos it's too slippy.

Oi! Stay there!

And it's not the first time the boy has been on Sam's radar

for causing trouble in the community.

-It's the same gent from a couple of nights ago on

-BLEEP

-Avenue,

where they was throwing stones at the windows.

He's part of that group.

As Sam waits for the fire engine,

she gives the boy instructions to stay put.

You're messing about!

Right, you are coming to my attention far too much at the minute, aren't you?

Go back to the other side, please,

because while you're on there, you could be causing damage to the roof,

and how do you know that the roof's not safe

and that you might go through it?

She goes on to take his details

and is understandably annoyed by his continued bad attitude.

-Right, you are 12 at the minute, is that right? 13 next week?

-Yes.

You're acting like a two-year-old.

Within minutes the fire brigade arrives.

Sam gives them the low-down on the situation and they set about

bringing the boy down safely.

Cos you can't get down from here!

I only spoke to him two nights ago for throwing stones.

With him now on the ground, Sam lays down the law to him.

I don't care how cold it is, all right?

You have cost an absolute fortune for these to come out

just to get you off from being an idiot up there.

She wants to help the boy,

but needs him to realise the seriousness of his situation.

You are coming to my attention far too much this week, all right?

I will be looking at a possible Acceptable Behaviour Contract for you - an ABC.

-You've heard of one of them?

-Yep.

-All right?

Because I think the only way we're going to sort you out,

and wipe the smirk off your face, all right,

is to start somebody working with you

because obviously you think this is a bit of a laugh.

Right, I think you owe somebody an apology as well.

With the emergency over, Sam clears the area of kids.

-Thank you.

-Cheers, lads.

Children have climbed onto the roof before

and Sam and the fire officer think they know how to stop the problem

in future.

-Well, there's a tree round there.

-That's what he's climbed up on.

-We'll get Parks to come and chop that off.

-We'll leave that with you. Fabulous, OK.

Sam was initially concerned about calling the fire brigade as it may have wasted their valuable time,

but as it turns out, they agree she made the right decision.

I made sure first that he couldn't get down before.

Well, Craig said he went up on it and it is very slippery

so that's why he's probably... He's come down and it's...

-Yeah.

-Freeze, don't you?

Cos it costs a lot for one of them units to come out.

I think it's anything between £250 and £300 when a fire engine comes out.

Even though the situation is resolved, the boy is still in trouble.

He will get a visit to his parents because I think it's...

We need to be letting them know what he's up to when he's out and about,

cos obviously they're none the wiser about it.

And I'll pass it onto the officers that are dealing with the other jobs from the other night,

cos we're looking at Acceptable Behaviour Contract for him.

And hopefully we can get him towed back in line for six months

and work with him regarding what he's up to,

showing him right from wrong.

The tree in the park has now been cut back

and no more kids have climbed on the roof.

One of the success stories of neighbourhood policing is the use of restorative justice.

With police officers mediating,

it sees criminals meeting their victims face-to-face,

but unsurprisingly, emotions can often run high.

Over in Park Cafe in Hull,

a charity box was recently stolen.

A group of children snatched a jar of coins

destined for Help For Heroes.

The charity helps injured servicemen and women rebuild their lives

after sustaining some terrible injuries during their time

in war zones. The community was shocked by the crime.

PCSO Carole wants the boys who did it to come face-to-face with Margo,

the woman whose cafe they stole the box from,

so she can let them see how upsetting the whole incident has proven to be.

Instead of sort of dealing with them through the criminal justice system,

we wanted to do it this way

so that they could find out a little bit more about what they've done.

Get them perhaps to do some work in the park as reparation

and a whole better way of dealing with it,

I think, than actually involving them in the criminal justice system

because it gives them a chance to think about what they've done,

think about why they did it and also for the people that

it immediately affects, it gives them a chance to address the boys

while they're here and tell them how it made them feel

and what they want to be done to make it right.

And today, as well as Margo the cafe owner, the boys

will be hearing from someone directly involved with the charity.

I'd like the boys to see what was wrong in what they did

and to understand why it was so wrong

and to understand the strength of feeling from people.

People were very angry.

Help For Heroes is a charity that's close to a lot of people's hearts.

It should be close to the boys' hearts as well, because they do have

a brother who's serving in the Forces at the moment,

so it's really to bring that home to them

and give them a bit of a wake-up call, really, and let them

see why it was so wrong what they did.

The three brothers have come with their mother.

All three were at the cafe that day but only two stole the charity box.

Joining them is a spokesperson from

Help For Heroes who was a soldier in the Army for 13 years,

as well as Margo and one of the park rangers.

Thank you everybody for coming.

I really, really appreciate people giving up their time.

Thank you, Mum, and, boys, thanks for coming, I appreciate this.

Carole begins the session by asking the brothers

to tell everyone what happened that day.

This lass that was stood next to us, she said,

"Why don't you just grab it?" And then Nathan were near me

and he obviously did and then we ran after that.

And then we dropped it because we saw people running after us.

I need to ask you boys as well, what was it like when

all the people came up? Because obviously people were angry.

-I was scared because I didn't know what was going on.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-People were quite angry on the day, weren't they?

-Yeah.

The spokesman explains to the boys why this is about more

than just stolen pennies.

Unfortunately I've been to war.

I've been to the Gulf War and I've been to Bosnia.

The reason why a lot of people got angry is, in Afghan alone,

from Britain, yeah, there's over 407 died.

And the average age of those that have died is only 23,

so it's not very old at all, is it?

-No.

-There's not a lot of money in that jar.

You probably get more pocket money than that in a month, than there is in that jar.

All these little jars of money really, really help people.

They help provide wheelchairs, they help provide legs for people.

People that have got problems with hearing,

they can help provide hearing aids.

People don't think about the actual people that that could help

and that's the reason why I'm here today, so you can actually

see a face of somebody, you know, it has helped and can help.

And the charity is a cause that is also extremely close to Margo's heart.

Yeah, I'm greatly disappointed, actually, because the six young men

that got killed were in the same regiment as my nephew,

who's actually in Afghanistan at the moment,

so it was very raw to me and to my staff.

Plus, I've my brother in the Army and my sister-in-law, who have all

been in Afghanistan and seen some absolutely terrible things.

But if you only really realise the consequences of what you did,

and I hope you do,

you would understand how hurt it has made me and the staff

and the customers that were here on the day, they were really upset.

You're like my grandson. I was gutted

because these things don't kind of happen very often in East Park.

I feel for your mum because I feel upset,

because I look at you right now, like I have young children,

and now I'm looking at you like my grandchildren.

'It's not an easy process for anybody, it's really difficult to do

'and anybody that says that that's easy should try it themselves'

because, even from an adult point of view, to sit opposite people

that you've caused harm to, like that, is really, really difficult.

-You're not bad boys.

-No, they're not, they're bright lads as well,

all of them, aren't you?

And I know how upset you were and I know how upset...

particularly... I think you were probably more upset than your little brother.

'I've done a real lot of restorative processes

'and they've all had good outcomes.'

It just moves people forward. I think it's a great way of doing it

and they say people don't communicate any more,

nowadays, that's the problem, so getting people together to communicate seems to work.

The park ranger, Shaun, who was on patrol that day also tries to help

the boys understand the consequences of their actions.

I totally agree with Carole there. Looking at you three now

and obviously you're really upset, aren't you?

So it's hitting home what you did and the consequences of what you've done.

I can understand, you was with a group of kids and they dared you on.

-But the thing is, they're not the ones sat in here today, are they?

-No.

-You lot are.

So at the end of the day, you've got to really think about your actions before you do it.

You all look really, really upset and genuinely sorry

so just next time, if there's a thought even remotely starts

to come across your head, just think about how bad you're feeling now.

But this is it now, it's done.

So thank you, boys, you've done well. All right, thank you.

In the future, hopefully these boys will stay out of our radar, we won't hear from them again.

We'll maybe see them in the park and have a chat with them.

Nothing like this will happen again and that's when you know that

definitely it's worked, is when you don't get any more, sort of,

repeat behaviour of that type of thing.

But I think as far as the day went, yeah, definitely,

they definitely engaged, so I am, I'm really in favour of it.

Since the restorative session, the boys have stayed on the right side of the law

and Carole continues to achieve great success

in using the mediation process as a way to resolving problems

that blight the local community.

Over at Preston Road police station,

Sam has been called in to help a group of worried allotment tenants

who have been repeatedly targeted by thieves and vandals.

She's already spent some time walking around their growing plots,

assessing things they can do to deter the criminals

but she's also got another idea up her sleeve.

Sam's discovered an allotment nearby

that could give the guys at Marfleet the inspiration they need.

Right, we're going down to Leeds Road allotments.

Basically, what we've done is, I've spoken to Tracy,

one of my colleagues who looks after the allotments on there,

to try and organise a meeting with three of my gentlemen from my allotments

to get a committee together and get the allotments working,

getting people talking to one and other, reporting things.

Because just handing somebody a piece of paper,

that's the easy way, but if they can get some pointers

today on how they've managed to do it, because they will have had

some struggles at some point, and how to overcome them.

So that's what we're hoping they get out of it today.

Nigel and Steve from Marfleet allotments have come along

to find out how an association can work.

-Pleased to meet you.

-Nigel.

-I'm the secretary of the site.

-Keith.

-Hiya, Keith.

Do you want to have a walk around the site first?

So you can see what we've achieved over the past, well, eight years.

-Eight years? We've got a lot to go, guys.

-We've got to catch up.

Unlike Marfleet, this site is run by a volunteer tenants' association.

The group is doing all it can to cut crime

and is overseeing security improvements across the site.

Kids that have been excluded from school, this is their little site.

-Obviously, we do what we can for them.

-Are they supervised by teachers and what have you?

-Yes, they bring so many down.

-OK.

-And the allotment people,

like Brian and that, will come down, advise them, help them and just work with them.

The advantage of having these on is those little kids in ten years' time

will actually be teenagers, so from a very young age

you're getting them involved.

They'll come here, they'll see the work that they've done, you know, "I've grown this..."

Thanks to the visit to the neighbouring allotment, Nigel and Steve are beginning

-to see what a bit of team work can achieve.

-It's quite good, isn't it?

-You were advised, when...

-To put up a sign up saying "toilets", yeah.

It looks like a container that you want to break into.

Tells them it's a toilet - what do they want to break into a toilet for?

Setting up a successful tenants' association can bring more

than just safety to the site.

It can help create a unique community spirit.

I think we had something like 180 people on here.

-Just coming and going all day long.

-Very, very busy.

You come down and the whole families are here,

little kids, grandparents and they all just come and...

-Everybody, yeah.

-Bring their own stuff, tables.

-Then we had a bonfire night.

-Yeah, we got called several times!

THEY LAUGH

Having seen what can be achieved, Nigel and Steve are keen to get back

to their own allotment and get the ball rolling, but also want

the neighbourhood police team to continue to support their efforts.

-Are you going to be more involved with us now?

-Yes.

Yeah, well, I've been on there, been on the area for five years

but nobody's ever really reported anything to us.

Now I've got a point of contact and Steve's got a point of contact,

you've now got a point of contact, you're more than likely...

You're starting more or less an association linkage, aren't you?

Yes, yeah.

But we just need to start taking little fairy steps, if you know what I mean.

So first things first, is get as many people interested.

Get things marked and gradually... I think this year's going to be

just trying to get things going, if you know what I mean.

And then maybe next year, we can go for the full jugular of...

Since teaming up with Sam, the men from Marfleet have made significant steps at tightening up security

and making the plots a more family friendly place.

They've measured the fence up and they've put some stakes on top of the fence to put the barbed wire on.

They've mended the container. The hinges were broken,

so we couldn't use it. So now we can use it now as storage.

Mended the toilet because it got vandalised, so they've actually mended it,

and so now we're just getting on with the plots now, trying to get all them tidied.

And Sam is impressed by the improvements made.

Yeah, quite excited. It's been quite a...

Six weeks, we've been up and running as a committee

and it's working quite well.

We've not had any crime reports, as in that there's been any theft or damage.

We've had a few kids coming onto the site, just having a nosey round.

I opened it up for everybody, so there's no reason to break in.

All they've got to do is ask and we'll let them in.

It's been a hard six weeks but we're getting there, doing well.

It just goes to show, you reap what you sow.

The neighbourhood teams in Humberside are committed to

delivering a service which sees crime levels falling and communities made safer,

but it's an ongoing challenge

and one residents are sure to make the police continue to rise to.

Coming up next time...

the police raid a suspected cannabis factory

hidden inside a mansion house...

-Police!

-Police!

-Police!

-Police!

..the cops crack down on the street peddlers...

Can I remind you that you are still under caution

and obviously they've just dropped from you, all right?

..and the team join forces with the RSPCA to race to the rescue

of a young puppy.

We can do it now the difficult way or we can do it now the easy way, it's entirely up to you.

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