A POLICE operation to get nuisance youths off Sandy s streets will be launched next week. Operation Occlude will be run by the neighbourhood policing team from Biggleswade with the aim of attempting to reduce the problems of anti-social behaviour among te

A POLICE operation to get nuisance youths off Sandy's streets will be launched next week.

Operation Occlude will be run by the neighbourhood policing team from Biggleswade with the aim of attempting to reduce the problems of anti-social behaviour among teenagers in Sandy.

To make teenagers and other members of the public aware of police concerns, a special parental awareness evening is planned for next Wednesday, February 1, at Sandy Upper School at 7.30pm when police officers will be joined by members of the Sandy Community Forum and 25 other organisations who will be offering a wide range of opportunities to young people in the town.

The meeting will have four main headings for discussion all under the banner 'Am I Bovvered?'

The first will be about what young people get up to in Sandy, the next about what parents believe their child gets up to at night, followed by what could they be doing. The final topic will be 'Do you want to do something about it?'

Leading the operation and facing parents and teenagers will be new Biggleswade community sergeant Ted Bloodworth who says the time has come to find a solution about nuisance youths in Sandy.

"Sandy is high on the list of hot spots for nuisance youths," said Sgt Bloodworth.

"We want to bring parents in to help us because, after all, it is their kids out there on the streets at night causing the problems.

"At the back end of last year we tried to reduce the problem of nuisance youths but it never happened and we still have problems on the streets in the town which we are determined to stop. Groups of youths gathering around shops can be intimidating to shopkeepers and customers as well as residents.

"Hopefully, we will be able to make positive progress this time to get teenagers off the streets of Sandy."

Sgt Bloodworth will be joined at the meeting by Graham Caves, the anti-social co-ordinator at the Mid and South Beds Community Safety Partnership.

"This is a great chance to try and resolve a lot of the problems surrounding troublesome teenagers in Sandy," added Sgt Bloodworth.

"I just hope parents respond to our initiative so we can do something to encourage teenagers off the streets and make everyone's lives more peaceful.