A secondary school has warned police that Whitefield 'will never have enough' officers to deal with the levels of youth crime and anti-social behaviour in the area. Earlier this month a Police and Communities Together meeting took place at the town's Morrisons Cafe - where unaccompanied school children have been banned following an arson attack.
The public meeting was also called to discuss issues at the nearby Metrolink station. Police Sergeant Dickinson said that she had never seen such a good attendance at a surgery before.
A member of staff from Philips High School was vocal at the meeting. She said that people need to remember that majority of the school's 900 students are 'amazing' but that a 'small minority' tarnish their reputation.
She said that the school runs workshops on anti-social behaviour to prepare them for life outside school but admits 'there's only so much we can do'. "The police are always in school," she said.
She said that if officers come in with CCTV or a photo that they will do their best to find the student. "We never shy away from it," she said. "If ever a member of the public comes in with a photo we will deal with it," she added.
"The wider issue we have is the clothes they wear," she said. She encouraged Morrisons to implement a policy where children can't wear hoods and masks in the store.
She said that students use WhatsApp and Snapchat to get word out 'as soon as they know police are there'. "It doesn't matter how many police there are," she explained.
"We will never have enough in the area to deal with it," she added. Sergeant Dickinson, who previously explained that Whitefield only has four PCSOs, said that they move officers around so that they spend 15 minutes each location to create the illusion that 'the police are everywhere'.
A deputy headteacher who attended the meeting said that 'parents have to step up' in order to tackle the issues in the area. She said: "It just seems like a real shame for a lot of the children. My son is 15 and is in Year 10. He was gutted when he couldn't go to Morrisons. There's a lot of great kids in Whitefield and it's a shame because of these kids."
However, a member of staff from Morrisons has said that he has relaxed the policy, and that security will now only stop large groups of young people from entering the store. But he said that he has received lots of complaints and that 'parents need to get get a bit of a grip'.
He said that parents had come into the store at spat at staff. He said that on the day of the arson attack, there were nearly 100 staff in the store, and around 60 customers.
"It could have been horrific," he said. He explained that he's got a duty of care to his staff and that they come to work to 'sell beans' - not to deal with someone saying they're going 'to stab the trolley lad'.
He also said that he could not get the guards to ask people to take off their hoods and masks because it could create an issue and fight - which they can't have when a '90-year-old lady is walking past'.
Sarah, a teacher who lives near Morrisons and has lived in Whitefield all her life, said that issues at the store are 'not a recent thing'. "It's been building and building and building over a long period of time."
And workers around the area agree that anti-social behaviour is an issue - but one mainly contained to the supermarket. "It's mostly just talking back to the security guards," Joanna Jaszczak, who works in a tanning shop nearby, said. "They are scaring staff and it is happening more and more."
Further down Bury new Road, Euan Adams, who works at a bookmakers at the Elms Square complex, added: "They can be a pain. One of them called me a condom. They are just very loud, screaming and shouting. We get called weird stuff and they say there's a bomb scare. They're messy, generally."
However, staff at neighbouring Subway said the anti-social behaviour problem has largely subsided since the pandemic began.
Some of the residents in attendance at the March 15 meeting said that the children have nowhere else to go other than the tram stop and Morrisons. Lisa Davies, a youth worker from the council, agreed.
She said that Bury Council used to have around 50 youth workers and is down to four. She said that there used to be youth centres 'everywhere in Bury'. 'That's needed," she said.
"We haven't got the buildings now because Bury council sold them. If anyone has any buildings we can use let me know please." "We want them back open and that is exactly what we need," Ms Davies added.
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