Drogheda Anti Social Problem

Wertz

Biggins wrote: »

I welcome the forthcoming many cameras around Drogheda - one thing though. The camera system they are using is crap. To be honest, such is the bad quality of the image being recorded (from bought cameras that are poor lens-wise in quality) that video evidence for courts will be non-existent if it boils down to actually confirming a thugs i.d. - I know this for a fact. Can't say how I know this cos' I'd get colleagues into trouble but its sad and true. The best the cameras will do is spot trouble starting, and maybe 30 minutes later a gardi might turn up!

Cameras? lol
I've been working in a new estate adjoining an older housing estate in North Drogheda for the past while....the new houses come under regular attack at weekends from local kids, breaking windows, starting fires, trespassing, all the usual crap.
Now this same older estate is surrrounded by high mounted CCTVs...but as my picture below shows, the local kids see little deterrent in these cameras and actually regard them as a target for vandalism.
The shot taken on a phone isn't the best of quality, so allow me to set the scene...myself and 2 workmates caught sight of these guys in a gang of about 10, wouldn't say there were any of them older than 12 and some looked to be much younger. At 3pm on a weekday, these kids had a 30-ft extension ladder, placed against the metal mounting pole of the camera...one of the more daring youngsters climbed the ladder, managed to reach over the anti-climb grille and start swinging at the actual camera with a lump hammer....a f*cking lump hammer! This went on for a about 10 minutes by which stage the site foreman had come in to watch and called the gardaí to see what they'd do....15min later a squad car pulls into the top of the estate...the kids see this and scatter on foot and by bike and come cheekily back out when the car pulls up the camera.
According to one of the guys I work with who lives nearby this wouldn't be an unusual incident....as gets asked in a lot of these discussions I have to wonder where parents were when this gang of 10 or more children (NOT teens or 20-somethings) were out trying to disable a security camera that probably cost a lot of money and is supposed to prevent this type of behaviour....the irony about a camera being unable to prevent vandalism on itself let alone the surrounding area isn't lost on me either...local rumour has it BTW that many of these cameras either don't work properly or aren't even turned on or recording....as we could plainly see on the day in question, their output certainly isn't monitored so what f*cking use are they really except for the company that got the contract to install and service them? Have to wonder who's pulling purse strings in Droghdea UDC and how public money ends up being all but wasted on stuff like this...

Scotty #

I must just be lucky. I've been living in Drogheda for 3 years now and go out maybe 2-4 times a month to the popular spots and I've never seen an ounce of trouble.



I bet after posting that I'll get mugged or stabbed or something tonight!

ssmith6287

I have to laugh at these little scumbags, they go round beeting up young lads, and then ya hear em saying tiochaidh ar la. This is just ignorant, Little scumbags who dont have a clue of the meaning bar its translation. If I were in charge id get rid of these laws that dont allow adults to smack kids. Thats wat these little runts need is a serious hiding. Beet them to within an inch of their lives because nothing else can do the trick. And its not just Drogheda, Dundalk is as bad. These feckin crews, bunch of 14 year olds who think theyre "haaaaaaaard". Until these little scumbags get put in their place its gonna get worse, people will join these groups out of fear. last year they were happy slapping, now theyre shooting people eith pellet guns, whats next, machetes and guns.

streamsofpiss

In drink in Drogheda almost every weekend and seldom see any trouble unless I decide to cross West Street for a bag of chips at 3 in the morning. :rolleyes:


You can generally avoid trouble if you don't go looking for it.

CMpunked

this is no joke, i actually seen a few lads messin about yesterday with a Tazer!

I was driving into my estate (boyne valley) with 2 friends in the car and i noticed a bunch of lads, about 17, maybe 18 hanging about as i turned in, but then noticed that one of the guys had seemed to grab the other guys back.

Which led to my friend saying that it looked as one lad had grabbed and pinched his mate in the back, "like a nipple cripple" to quote him.
The guy held his back and arm while looking discomforted while giving out to his friend with something like "Aw you fu**er".

it was then i took notice and seen that there was a large black plastic looking object in his hand, which at first i honestly thought it was a 80s style mobile phone. But then i seen a jolt of electricity come out of it that would have made me jam on the breaks only for there was about 7 or 8 of them and then there was 2 other older looking guys sitting in what i think was a seat ibza, watching them. (well i assume this because why else would they be sitting there?)


Did anyone else see this? It was about 6ish, maybe half.
We drove out of the estate then at about 20 past 7 and they, along with the seat car, was gone.


From reading the paper this week and seeing that the flowerpots from beside the river was vandilised leads to what i think is the only way these things are going to be protected:

A CCTV camera system.

It would not stop all these things happening 100%, but it would deter these hulligans!