Letter to the editor: I can honestly say how appalled I am quite a lot of people are with these youths who have nothing better to do than hang around outside on the streets “gobbing” and littering, smoking cannabis, drinking and causing trouble.

Hanging around with their hoods up as well. I would not mind but half of the time it is not even raining and they are not exactly the grim reaper. Nowhere is safe nowadays because of these “children”. How can teenagers of ages up to 19 let children as young as 11 drink and smoke?

It is atrocious. They are meant to be influencing them in the right way, but they are taking them in the wrong way.

The stats of crime in local areas have increased a lot over the past 15 years or so.

More youth centres and clubs need to be opened and more work and training schemes need to be introduced to those teens old enough, otherwise they are going to cause trouble to keep themselves occupied.

I can hold my hands up and say “yeah, I wasn’t perfect”. I did get myself into a spot of bother here and there, but I suddenly realised that it was not going to get me anywhere.

Thanks are due to my family for giving me the encouragement and the motivation to learn new skills and to be bothered to work.

More police need to be out on the streets of a night in secluded areas, as well as after school time in remote areas, doing thorough searches and patrols, because it seems everywhere you go now these youths have most probably got either a weapon, drugs or alcohol on them. It could be all three, who knows?

Either way, something needs to be done otherwise the world will end up evolving into everyone being delinquents.

RICHARD TAYLOR, Address supplied