GANGS of teenagers in the Ringland area of Newport have been “terrorising” residents – but police are cracking down and say they are ready for ‘Black Friday’ tonight.

Officers working in Alway, Lliswerry and Ringland have seen a drop in reports of anti-social behaviour from 210 in September to 142 in November, and just 68 so far this month.

Inspector Kevin Warren, who patrols the three wards, said problems ranged from name calling to damaging bins and even throwing fireworks at community support officers.

He said: “In Ringland we had damage caused to people’s properties and people threatened out on the street.

“We know what the root causes are – it’s gangs of youths wandering round Ringland Estate terrorising people. We all know there is a fantastic group of people living in Ringland and they deserve not to be threatened and harassed and live in fear.”

Tactics to combat the problems include high visibility police patrols, making sure young people have support such as from youth clubs, and temporary dispersal orders.

Dispersal orders, allowing police to tell people in large groups to leave a specified area and arrest them if they return, have been in place from November 28 to 30 and December 12 to 14 in Ringland.

During the first weekend eight people were ordered to leave the dispersal zone, five youths were taken home by police because they were drunk in public and one boy was arrested because he returned to the area.

Over that weekend there were no reports of antisocial behaviour in Ringland and the success of the order was repeated last weekend.

As well as using the orders, officers want to see CCTV installed at the Ringland Centre and say they will continue to work with partner organisations such as Newport City Homes and the council.

Inspector Warren said police were called to a street in Lliswerry earlier this month where a group of youths were being noisy and damaging fences and hedges where elderly people lived. They identified two children aged between 10 and 12 and contacted their parents.

“That resulted in a parent who was absolutely shocked that their son or daughter could be involved in that type of behaviour”, he said. “They decided to take their child to make a formal apology and offer some restorative justice, which is fantastic.”

Local officer PC Nicola Donovan advised parents: “Find out what your kids are doing, pick them up from locations such as youth clubs and don’t let them go around in big gangs.”

Inspector Warren added: “We don’t want to demonise any of the kids because they’re kids at the end of the day, vulnerable people. It’s about giving them an opportunity to work with us.”

Emma Corten, councillor for Ringland, said: “I’ve had lots of reports regarding anti-social behaviour and have been told of the effects that the actions of the assailants have had on elderly and vulnerable residents.

“Anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated as the actions of the Inspector have shown and I commend him and the policing team for this. By working together we will hopefully see some progress so that those residents who are hit particularly hard can enjoy a peaceful life.”