Do you know where your children are? Do you know who they are with? What they are doing? 

Over the past few days, we are seeing increasing reports of anti-social behaviour and hoax calls in Bolton Town Centre. This is resulting in a significant number of policing resources being involved in dealing with youths rather than attending to emergency incidents, putting other peoples lives in danger. 

The vast majority of these children have been identified and live in various areas across the Bolton district, travelling into the Town Centre and engaging in ASB. This is causing issues for local businesses, residents and visitors to the area. The youths are climbing on nearby roofs, throwing objects at vehicles and persons, making hoax 999 calls and verbally abusing members of the public. This behaviour is not acceptable, and is not only causing annoyance, but also putting themselves in danger, along with other members of the public. 

As I write this, 6 youths have been detained for causing ASB and are on route home with officers. Their parents and guardians can expect a knock on the door imminently, with referrals being made to our partner agencies to place them onto the ASB pathway. The officers dealing with these children can no longer respond to emergencies as they are now engaged for a protracted time. 

Last week, 8 youths were served with Youth Exclusion Orders, prohibiting them from entering the majority of premises and shopping centres across Bolton Town Centre due to the severity and impact of their behaviour on local businesses and members of the public. A multi-agency meeting was held to decide on the progression of these cases, with discussions around the potential for the prolific offenders to be issued with social services intervention, acceptable behaviour contracts, civil injunctions or criminal behaviour orders. 

We are working hard with our partner agencies to make Bolton a safe and pleasant place to visit - but to do this, we need your help. Please speak to your children and ensure they are educated on acceptable conduct and are not engaging in problematic behaviour when visiting the town centre, or any other area of Bolton. If the behaviour continues to escalate, a number of these youths are at risk criminal records, causing problems for themselves in the future with education, employment and travelling to other countries.