Episode 10 Street Patrol UK

Our lives are blighted by antisocial behaviour,

whether it's nuisance neighbours, graffiti or too much booze.

Enjoy yourself, have a drink, but don't be a twit all night.

This is the story of police officers, council wardens and local volunteers

whose job it is to keep it off our streets.

It's something people don't want to see and we're out to put a stop to.

Welcome to Street Patrol UK.

Coming up on today's programme:

the wardens stamping out begging and littering on the busiest streets in the country.

You just dropped your cigarette butt.

There's litter bins there.

The travellers tearing up a beautiful village.

He came up, went onto the road, reversed back and spun his wheels.

I got it all over my windows, my patio.

I thought, "This is not funny any more, is it?"

And the Scottish high street terrorised by out of control youths.

Spitting in my face, punching me in my face. The police were called.

There was pepper spray, batons and police had to phone for extra backup.

Here in the heart of London, the streets are always buzzing,

but the crowds can provide cover for people who are up to no good,

whether that be petty crime or antisocial behaviour.

Luckily, the wardens who patrol this area have got a secret weapon to allow them to see what's going on.

Slap bang in the middle of the West End is a state-of-the-art CCTV control room

providing a bird's eye view of what's happening on the streets.

This means the council can keep an eye on anything from people dumping rubbish, to rough sleepers, beggars

and illegal street traders. And they can co-ordinate the police response if things kick off.

Westminster CCTV, good evening.

Ryan has worked here for five years and is passionate about keeping London's streets safe for everyone.

I was like everyone else. "Big Brother? What do they look at? Do they look at me?"

When you come in here, you sort of get a different outlook of the CCTV system. It's not what you think.

It's there for the public protection. We basically look for anything from begging to counter-terrorism.

Anything that's happening that's not normal, that's what we target and focus in on.

And when he spots something, Ryan can quickly make direct contact with the wardens on the ground.

We're their eyes, basically, so if we see something, we just alert them,

then they can attend quickly.

-Hello. Klaudija speaking.

-Hello, it's Ryan.

-Hello, Ryan. How are you?

-I'm OK.

-I lost you on camera. Whereabouts are you?

-We're literally at the top of the street,

-junction with Shaftesbury Avenue.

-OK... Yeah, we can see you now.

-Is there anywhere you would like us to go?

-If you want to take a walk around Leicester Square.

OK, sure.

Originally from Croatia, Klaudija has lived in the UK for 15 years.

She became a street warden during the Olympics and liked it so much she's stayed ever since.

I'm very passionate about what I do. I consider myself a public servant

who is here to protect and serve the public. That's what drives me every single day.

It's a busy Friday night and Klaudija and Ryan are in constant contact.

Spotting and dealing with antisocial behaviour on the streets is a big part of their job.

When she arrives in Leicester Square, Klaudija finds a man busking with an unusual trumpet.

She's going to this guy now who is busking for money by blowing through that cone to make some noise,

to get people to give him some money.

Hello, sir. Westminster City Council...

As soon as he saw her, he just got up and shot off. He doesn't want that.

He's taken his cone with him as well.

No one likes to have someone there behaving inappropriately. It doesn't give a good image.

That's something we're trying to minimise as well.

Leicester Square isn't just a major tourist attraction. It's also a magnet for undesirable characters.

I have just seen a person sitting on the floor who appears to be begging

by extending their empty coffee cup.

So I'm going to go and speak to him and see why is he there and why is he doing it.

Good evening, sir. City of Westminster. Yes.

-Can I...? Can I ask what you are doing? Are you begging?

-No.

I'm just sitting down.

OK.

Thank you, sir.

He didn't want to engage in any conversation, which I understand. He seemed slightly embarrassed,

which is also understandable, so I didn't take it any further.

He's moved on. That's all we want.

Begging is clearly antisocial, but other illegal activities cause big problems in the West End.

Unlicensed sellers might seem harmless, but they're often involved in petty crime,

-so the wardens keep a close eye on them.

-Hi, Klaudija. It's me again. Whereabouts are you now?

We're standing outside the Odeon. Can you see us?

Outside Odeon, yeah. If you go back towards Haagen Dazs, there's four flower sellers

-gathered there.

-OK.

-They're actively persuading people to buy flowers.

They're coming towards you, walking towards Cranbourn Street.

Can you see? One with a blue top and a grey skirt.

She just put the flowers behind her.

Excuse me. Excuse me, please.

Excuse me, please.

You know I'm talking to you. Please open up your coat.

Thank you. Can I ask what you're doing? Have you got a licence?

Have you got a paper that says you can sell these here? No.

Can I ask you, please, to move on and not to sell these?

If I see you selling them again, I will take them away from you.

She's been moved on from here. I've asked her if she possesses a licence to sell these in Westminster.

She was claiming that she doesn't speak any English and that... she doesn't...

Can I please ask you to move on from the area, please?

Yes. There's obviously a group of them here tonight.

I would be reluctant to take these away from them unless I would witness a sale.

'They are a nuisance.'

She's actively pestering people, you know,

to purchase flowers, which they don't want to do. It's not only flowers.

Sometimes they pickpocket people as well, in large crowds.

We have seen that before as well. These people are out there to make money by any means necessary.

Good evening, sir.

-Is this hat placed here for people to place money in there, sir?

-No.

It's not? Could you please kindly remove the hat so people can't place money in there?

Yes. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

Another problem sorted. Asking people to stop doing something is easy, though.

Keeping offenders away from an area permanently is much more difficult.

The same individual that we approached earlier who was moved on has seen us.

He's just spotted us and he's moving quickly on again.

He doesn't look very happy. It looks like that's his favourite spot, but we have to move on.

It might be low-level stuff, but it's all antisocial and it bothers people.

Klaudija, Ryan and the team will keep striving to make the streets of London safe for everyone.

I feel that I'm making a difference behind the scenes. I'm still making a difference.

I feel very passionate about doing that and playing my part in society to help this.

It's fair to say there's one thing we all dread - selfish, noisy neighbours.

So when newcomers move in and start disrupting an entire community, it's time for some group action.

Which is what the residents of a picturesque West Midlands village decided to do

when their peaceful lives were shattered by nightmare new neighbours

who arrived one sunny spring weekend.

LOUD BUZZING

The intolerable noise was being caused by travellers

who had recently bought the land, which is Green Belt.

They were trying to develop it into a residential site and scrap yard.

It was a massive shock to the local villagers.

To find suddenly, one Bank Holiday Friday, that that amenity

has literally been devastated and smashed by bulldozers, earth-moving vehicles,

is hugely traumatic, not just for me, but for many hundreds of residents locally.

Not only was the noise traumatic, but being Green Belt land, they did not have permission to develop it.

Green Belt areas are protected as open spaces. Agricultural buildings can be built on them,

but it's rare to be granted a change of use to build residential or commercial properties,

but that didn't stop the travellers.

Within about three hours, it became something that looked like a battlefield from the Somme.

There were people standing by the fences, some crying, some angry.

Some people were in disbelief.

I shed a lot of tears in the beginning, I really did.

Your whole world was turned upside down.

There used to be an agricultural barn here, leading to a green field site. This area was covered in refuse

and all sorts of debris. This area was used as an access point on to the main travellers' site.

There was almost daily conflict between us and the travellers going on and off the site,

at all hours - scrap metal vehicles, lorries, four by fours.

Whenever they saw us in the driveway, there'd be one-fingered salutes,

verbal and visual abuse and they would park across the gate filming us, to harass and intimidate us.

But the residents weren't prepared to take this noisy invasion into their lives quietly.

They formed an action group - Meriden Residents Against Inappropriate Development,

or RAID - led by David.

This is where the residents' protest site was. We had a brazier there, some flimsy awning over there.

And this was maintained on a 24-hour basis for three years.

I've been involved since day one doing four-hour shifts every weekend,

Tuesdays, Wednesdays and whenever anyone couldn't make it, I'd fill in.

Minus 12 we've sat there with the brazier at night,

just monitoring the site, making sure no work is carried out.

The residents created a successful human blockade

to stop lorries delivering tons of hardcore to develop the site.

The travellers applied for retrospective planning permission to develop the site, but were refused

-and the villagers bore the brunt of their frustration.

-You couldn't walk down the lane

without being abused or run off the road or the two-fingered salute, all that sort of business.

You'd to put up with that, which we did. It was quite dignified.

Every time we came out the gate, you got abuse, tried to run you over.

It was just all the time, something happening.

To circumvent the planning process,

by sending in bulldozers and barriers first, then afterwards submitting your planning application,

is not the way to go forwards or to do development.

It was about planning and developing on a piece of Green Belt land.

If anybody could come along and buy an agricultural field and start developing it into accommodation,

not right, it's not right. Anarchy.

When the travellers saw that the residents were maintaining the grass verge, as always,

they would target this area of grass verge.

The first time they churned it all up, I came out, cleaned it all up,

then I went out and they did it all again. So we left it for a bit,

cleaned all the wall down and my husband sort of tidied it all up.

And then about a month later he came up right onto the top, went onto the road,

reversed back and spun his wheels. This time I got it all over my windows, all over my patio,

and I got to the stage I thought, "This is not funny any more, is it?"

So the police came along, had a word with him, put the cones down.

If he damages the cones, it's police property.

It's petty antisocial behaviour, but deeply upsetting to residents,

who just do what good citizens do - look after the patch outside their house.

Far from being intimidated by the travellers' bullying behaviour,

the residents were determined to fight the development of Green Belt land,

no matter what it took.

Over the next three years, we fought 20 legal, planning and technical decisions

to prove that it's an inappropriate development and shouldn't be allowed.

It's cost £90,000 of community money.

It's taken three years of 24-hour protesting,

it's involved visits to Westminster, the European Parliament, the Council and the high courts.

All to protect what we cherish.

The travellers lost every appeal until finally, after over 1,000 days of the residents' protest,

Birmingham High Court refused the final appeal and within a month

the travellers had left the site and the villagers were quietly victorious.

People might think that we were triumphant on the day that they left, but that's not the feeling at all.

It's a feeling of immense relief.

We fought hard and long over it. We've done it. The land will be restored to what it was

before they made a mess of it.

We hope now they'll reinstate it.

When you live in a community, sometimes you don't realise how good it is until something happens.

Suddenly people get together and fight it.

-I didn't know none of these people.

-But now we're mates for life, a lot of us. Aren't we?

-Yep. Yes, we are.

This campaign and this devastation has woken a sleeping giant in this part of Middle England.

'I've been out on a Street Patrol of my own to hear what bothers you about Britain.'

What do you see, and sometimes have to put right, in your borough?

A lot of littering. Graffiti, racial graffiti,

spiting, loud music, that's a big, big issue.

Where I work, you've got a set of apartments up above and they have balconies and stuff like that.

Numerous fag ends go over into gardens down below, beer bottles, everything like that. A bad problem.

-Ann and...?

-Dave.

-Nice to meet you. Tell me, what have you seen that happens around here

-that you would say is antisocial?

-When you walk along and see someone spitting, we never had it years ago.

You'd get a handkerchief out. If you were sneezing, you'd put it up to your mouth. It's not the same.

-Peter and Carol, I can tell you're not local. Where are you from?

-Atlanta, Georgia.

-Atlanta, Georgia.

Superb. Can I just ask you, and this can be applicable to anywhere in the States or the UK,

what antisocial traits do you see that drive you both bonkers?

If someone threw a can on the road or litter with cigarette ash, I'd say, "Listen pick that up."

-Have you done that?

-Absolutely.

-Well, I hope you enjoy the rest of your stay in the UK.

-Thank you.

-Thanks very much.

Westminster Council in central London employs 20 local wardens

who patrol the streets to keep them free from antisocial behaviour.

No-nos include begging, camps left by rough sleepers, illegal trading,

fly posting and graffiti. Each day holds a different challenge.

Wardens Hussein and Ash regularly work together to keep the area safe and clean,

not only for residents and businesses but also for the millions of tourists here every year.

-Where shall we go? Head there?

-Yeah, check the hot spots.

'I enjoy what I do very much. I get a sense of doing good.'

I've done something, achieved something. It gives me satisfaction.

It also gives me satisfaction working with my team. I help them.

That's just as good as being out and helping the public, the businesses and community.

Essex boy born and bred Hussein is almost as busy at home.

With seven sons to keep in order and football coaching in his spare time,

for Hussein variety is the key.

We have a very wide spectrum of work, but that makes it interesting.

Because things are varied, you never get bogged down with one issue. There's always something else.

Today we're focusing on licensing issues, some street litter, maybe prostitute carders,

some begging and maybe a bit of illegal street trading.

First up is an all too common problem which Ash is quick to spot.

Excuse me, sir. Westminster City Council.

You dropped your cigarette butt.

There's a litter bin.

Once you put it out, you can.

Cigarette waste and loose litter costs Westminster Council up to £500,000 in additional sweeping.

Because cigarette waste is non-degradable, it takes five years to evaporate of its own accord.

That will just stay on the streets unless it's swept up.

Do us a favour - pick that up, put it away in the bin. It's just there.

-You could have got a fine.

-OK.

-We're educating you today. Everybody chucks cigarette litter down.

-I've always done it.

-This costs Westminster a fortune just for additional sweeps.

-I understand.

-If you do your bit, we'll all be good.

-You're a gentleman.

-It's a pleasure, sir.

'We tried to educate him.'

He's picked up his cigarette. Hopefully, he won't do that again. That's one less person littering.

This phone booth is absolutely full of prostitutes' cards.

That's advertising sex workers' services for sale.

We're on a busy touristic route and it's not very pleasant to look at, to be honest.

People may want to use this for other purposes than these cards, so I'm going to remove these.

There is stiff competition between the various people employed to put up these cards.

Some even go as far as putting razor blades and harmful chemicals to stop them being removed.

'It's a long, long problem.'

There's big money involved in prostitution as a whole.

Prostitution cards is one form of getting the clientele in, advertising their services.

This job alone could keep the diligent duo busy full-time.

There's people coming around pretty much as we're removing.

What we're trying to do is catch them putting them up. Then we can maybe get a possible arrest out of it.

It's a prosecutable offence.

We all hate the sight of this kind of thing - mindless graffiti.

It's hard enough to understand in places like this, but it's more outrageous on historical buildings.

These are the stunning remains of Greyfriars Church, Gloucester.

The church has been here in some form since the 13th century.

Although what we see today dates back to the 1500s, the church has had its fair share of knocks.

But what's left is now protected. English Heritage have given it a Grade 1 listed status.

It's regarded by local people with a sense of affection.

It's an open site. People can wander through the ruins as they wish.

It's certainly a distinctive feature as you come into the central part of Gloucester.

These houses, these castles are held in trust by various people for the nation.

They are community heritage assets.

But, sadly, not everyone respects this historic treasure.

Some people look at this place and see a blank canvas.

An act of vandalism to a designated heritage site such as this

is an act of vandalism upon the community itself.

Up here was a large noughts and crosses board that had been laid out and a game played upon it.

This panel over here - some initials and a strange sign had been left upon the panel.

In this case, the offender left some frank words of sexual advice to the police.

We have found on other sites that if we have a flat piece of stone that we can lime wash like this,

graffiti tends to be attracted towards that, rather than the more sensitive parts of the monument

and we can repaint this.

But, inevitably, sometimes these more sensitive areas are vandalised

and that's when the real damage is done.

The guy had sprayed the name Mike together with something below.

If you look closely, you can see, possibly even here,

the very smooth stone there where our specialist contractors have had to scrape off the top layer

in order to remove the paint, thus resulting in permanent damage.

That's what makes this type of antisocial behaviour so serious.

-It's a double dose of damage.

-I don't think the person concerned thought through their actions.

They were just acting on instinct and hadn't stopped to think about the implications.

It's particularly annoying because behind us is a warning sign saying how important this site is

-and that it's a criminal offence to damage it.

-It was starting to feel like fighting a losing battle

until one incredible breakthrough.

One of the vandals left a spray can behind and the police swooped.

The paint cans were seized and taken back to the police station

where they were sent in for forensic examination.

From the forensic examination that came back with a DNA hit,

the Scenes of Crime had located fingerprints on the cans themselves.

Mark checked police and social security databases to find out where the offender lived.

After some good old-fashioned detective work, he eventually tracked him down.

He was arrested for the offence and taken before custody.

During the interview, he actually admitted to the offence,

so he was charged with the offence and put up in court.

The 20-year-old vandal was given a 12-month conditional discharge

and ordered to pay English Heritage for the cost of removing the graffiti from Greyfriars.

It was a great result for Hugh and the whole community.

What do I think of such graffiti? It's a crime, basically.

It's a crime because it's against the law, it's a crime because it affects a community heritage asset,

something that belongs to the community. It's for everyone to enjoy what it is.

It's quite clear that graffiti like that ruins a beautiful place,

but some graffiti, and quite rightly so, is considered art. Some people will pay quite handsomely for it.

But when your sidewall or garage is tagged by vandals, that's a completely different story.

Back in Westminster, street warden Hussein is out with ex-Royal Navy serviceman Brian

to tackle the most persistent of blights that crops up right across the city.

We've come down here today cos I'm meeting the cleansing contractor to remove some graffiti I reported.

This is a busy residential area and it's got a market adjacent to it.

It's quite a busy cut-through so a lot of people use this to get to other streets.

A lot of people are offended by graffiti, so it's our intention to remove it as quick as possible.

-Hello!

-How you doing? All right?

-How are you today, Tom?

-Very well.

-I see you found it OK, then.

-Yeah.

-What's the procedure for us today? How long do you reckon it'll take? Is it doable?

-Definitely, yeah.

-It'll take one or two coats. I'm hoping one coat, which'll take 5-10 minutes.

-Fantastic.

Make no mistake, graffiti is not only antisocial, it's also illegal

and it's estimated to cost us taxpayers £1 billion a year to get rid of.

Don't think it's just a slap on the wrist and a fine if you get caught. If criminal damage exceeds £5,000

and you're over 18, it carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years.

That should make anyone think twice.

Graffiti's not just a City of Westminster problem. It's a country problem.

A lot of it is just wanton vandalism. It's not wanted. A lot of it is gang-related, tag-related.

This is someone saying that someone loves somebody, basically.

It's a very nice gesture if it was on a card or a bit of paper, but it's on somebody's residential wall!

-So we're going to get it cleaned.

-Expert graffiti cleanser Tom can hardly keep up with the demand.

I can get between... In a day, I've had up to 160 jobs in one day.

So... But the average is usually between 30 and 40 jobs a day.

So a lot of them now, what we've noticed is they've gone from spray painting to writing their tags

on stickers and sticking the stickers all over lamp columns. They're less likely to get caught.

So it's good for them, but not good for me.

Luckily for busy Tom, this particular clean-up job is proving to be a bit of a doddle. Or doodle!

Either way, the residential wall is pristine again within minutes.

Well done, mate. Off to the next one.

-Next one and then the next one and then the next.

-Thanks again, Tom. I'll see you around.

-No problem.

I think we'll have some happy residents. That graffiti is now gone.

It's not in their eyesight. Pedestrians, residents, businesses will all be happier.

Antisocial behaviour is about a lack of human decency and disrespect for people around you.

If someone's way of life is making yours a misery, that's as antisocial as it gets.

But lucky enough for you and me, there are people we can turn to.

And this series is their chance to shine.

We're on the frontline with highly-skilled council workers, police officers and volunteers

who are committed to keeping our streets safe and clean and taking on our antisocial battles

to make sure that our lives are not blighted by other people's bad behaviour.

This is Street Patrol UK.

It's easy to exaggerate about how loud groups of young people are,

but we mustn't forget we were all young once. Even I was, too!

But there is a big difference between high spirits and setting out to intimidate people.

In the picturesque tourist town of Haddington, just outside Edinburgh,

the behaviour of a gang of youths really spiralled out of control.

Their behaviour threatened the very livelihood of shopkeepers

like Betty who runs the sweetshop.

It's quite a close community, actually.

Kids are quite friendly with each other. Never much kicks off here.

It's quite a mellow, relaxed village.

But things changed when some young people from outside the area

were given temporary housing in the town.

They started to make the high street their place to hang out.

They seemed to take people that had got problems and transfer them onto our doorstep.

And they become a nuisance. They all had track records, ASBO'd from elsewhere,

put in temporary accommodation here.

A lot of them are males aged from 18 to maybe 25.

Young lassies, maybe 16, 17, who have got in with the crowd.

There's groups of five upwards. Two maybe during the day, then by teatime it escalates from five to 10.

And then it's fuelled by whatever they're taking, whether it's drugs or alcohol.

On the high street, the youths would cause trouble,

the younger ones pestering shoppers to buy them alcohol or cigarettes.

They've been causing a lot of trouble outside - vocal as well as breaking things,

throwing things around. It's unpleasant for customers.

Or you ask them to move on and you get told to...

in rude words, go away. And this is from 12-year-olds.

There has been an incident where several shopkeepers would not come out their shop.

They provoke you, push you to the edge and give you filth.

They always keep abusing us, members of the public, spit on the road, litter the place.

Things will be strewn around and we have to clean it.

Shiva Kumar has two shops on the high street. Both became targets for the youths.

They congregate here or there and keep asking members of the public to buy cigarettes, alcohol.

They keep bothering the customers. Whenever I see that happening, I take out my camera and stand in the shop

and make sure it's in my recording.

Over a period of months, the youths grew in confidence.

They'll just take cans of high-powered lagers, cider, tonic wines and walk in front of us.

In this footage, they brazenly steal a bottle of whisky from Shiva's shop.

It was like a volcano building to go off with their behaviour in the high street.

It was quite a busy evening, Saturday night, takeaway night, people going to the local wine shop,

buying papers, milk, arriving back off the bus. It's quite busy on a Saturday night.

It started at around lunchtime and was escalating, all their antics,

shouting, screaming, abuse.

Just outside her shop, one of the older troublemakers threatened Betty face-to-face.

I would never ever forget his face. He was fuelled on alcohol, drugs.

The whole top of his forehead was down, frowned, over his eyes.

His eyes were sunken, but glazed. Growling. He was like a wee possessed animal.

Like a dog that was on rabies. Just very intimidating.

I'll never forget his face.

Under siege again, the shopkeepers called the police.

As I attended the premises down at the cafe, the guy who gave the threat in the first place,

I told him his name was logged with the police, so he kicked off.

Spitting in my face.

Punching me in the face, grabbing me into the stairwell.

Obviously, my husband followed and there was kicking, punching,

and as my husband turned round to see who was coming in the stairwell,

the person giving the abuse assaulted my husband and headbutted him.

Not such a big man now, are you?

The police were called. It was like something out of a drama series. It all kicked off.

There was pepper spray, batons and police had to phone for extra back-up from other local villages.

In the aftermath of the Saturday night, the shopkeepers helped the police take them to court.

Betty had been severely shocked by the experience, but her local community all rallied round.

I felt very intimidated and scared, but with the support of the community coming in

and asking if everything was fine, other shopkeepers offering their staff to help out,

to get over the ordeal, I came through it. With the support of the community.

It's shocking how young people's antisocial behaviour can snowball out of control.

St Helens in Merseyside had similar problems, leading the council to set up a team to stop bad behaviour

at the earliest stage.

-What are your plans for tonight?

-Don't really have any.

-If you have a drink, stay together and safe.

-All right, we'll leave you to that.

-Ta-ra.

-Have fun.

The aim is to engage with young people in the community.

As you can see, it's a nice night, there's lots of people out.

They want to enjoy themselves and have a good time. We speak about the consequences of behaviour

which could happen later on at night and the effect on the community.

The council wardens can take alcohol from people if they think they're getting drunk.

The youngsters don't like it much, but they're less likely to cause trouble later.

So what's your plan, then? McDonald's and home?

-Oh, McDonald's, is it?

-Yeah.

This is all about making sure the town centre is a nice place for everyone.

We're just going to say hello to the young people who are skateboarding.

They're regular visitors to the town centre, so we've had issues of damage to street furniture

and elderly people who come shopping in the town have raised concerns. They don't want to be knocked over.

-What makes you come here, then?

-Is it just the best area?

-I've been coming here for years.

-Right, OK.

-Do you know about the new skateboard park?

-The new one?

-Yeah.

-What? Not good?

-Why? What did you want up there?

-I thought it would be bigger.

The reason why is obviously because other people use the town centre, not just you guys.

Sometimes you might cause a risk to elderly people.

They do raise concerns about you guys. And then there's damage caused to furniture as well.

Just be mindful of that. Yeah? Cool. Have a nice evening.

Take care.

There's a lot of people here tonight. I wouldn't want my gran or my auntie walking through here,

and to be intimidated by them.

A big group is gathering on the benches in the town square.

It's just the kind of situation that could get out of hand.

The group behind us are openly smoking weed, so we will be ringing the police to get them to come along

to nip it in the bud.

There's a strong smell of cannabis.

You can't sit here, lads.

The police search one of the group for drugs. For the council team, it's also an opportunity

to check that everyone is OK. They look out for anyone who might be vulnerable -

young people in a group of older teenagers or someone getting a little too drunk.

They can remove them from the streets, take them to a safe place and then call their parents.

Tonight, though, the police haven't found any drugs, so the group is allowed to stay put.

We'll keep coming back. I'll let other patrols know, PCSOs.

I'm happy at the moment for them to remain. They've been warned.

If they start being abusive, we will come back and move them on.

But there are no issues if they behave and tidy up before moving on.

Collette and her team head to the next hot spot in their mission to keep peace on the streets.

Since we filmed with our antisocial saviours, we've got some updates.

The fight goes on in Meriden in the West Midlands,

where residents' lives were made a misery by travellers.

The travellers have appealed to return to the Green Belt land and the residents must raise £20,000

in legal fees to fight the appeal, but the Council is considering prosecuting the travellers

for industrial scrap dealing on the site.

In Gloucester, they're working hard to protect Greyfriars Church from future vandalism

for the sake of the city's heritage and bank balance.

Cleaning up and removing graffiti cost us several hundred pounds, paying a specialist contractor.

However, the costs of the police, the courts were considerably more. Several thousand pounds at least.

And in Haddington, where out-of-control youths terrorised the high street shops,

a 21-year-old man who attacked sweetshop owner Betty and her husband

admitted both assaults. He was jailed for six months.

Another man was also jailed for six months for obstructing police work.

That's your lot for today. See you next time.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd