Police Deliver Knockout Blow to Nuisance Problems in Stacksteads

Police in Rossendale have team teamed up with a local café bar owner in a bid to kick anti-social behaviour problems into touch.

Crimebeat has helped to fund kick-boxing sessions for bored youths which are run by café owner and kick-boxer Alf Love. The money is being used to buy safety equipment and boxing gloves for youths who will train at the Black Belt Academy Unit, Toll Bar Business Park, Newchurch Road, Stacksteads.

The initiative kicked off when Alf - a national coach for the World Kickboxing Association - suffered youth nuisance problems at his café. He said: "Along with other local residents, I'd experienced problems with youths hanging around outside the café. The final straw came when my windows got egged. The Police were excellent in terms of keeping an eye on the place and moving youths on but I think sometimes, it's simply a case of the youths being bored. So, I decided to do something about it."

He is currently giving up his time for free to teach the youths on Monday and Wednesday evenings and on average around 20 local youngsters have attended each week. He said: "The kick-boxing is teaching the youths discipline and it's keeping them fit and healthy. It's also keeping them off the streets where they could end up getting involved in anti-social behaviour. It's early days, but the initiative seems to have been very well received and it's going very well."

Commenting on the scheme, PC Alexander Downham said: "Anti-social behaviour has been a significant problem for us in Stacksteads. We've employed a number of tactics to try to tackle the problem, including the use of Dispersal Orders, but none of them have been completely successful. Longer-term measures, involving the youths and local community are needed if we are to secure long term solutions to the problem. "This initiative is excellent - everyone benefits. We're very grateful to Alf for his support and in particular for giving up his own time - free of charge - for the greater good of the local community and we're also grateful to Crimebeat for funding this innovative scheme."