Police comment after large groups of kids gather in Southport

It’s the school holidays and young people are meeting up with friends during their time off school as they have always done. 

Over recent weeks a number of reports have been made about large groups of boys and girls, as many as 20 – 40, who have been gathering in the seafront areas and town centre of Southport. Other areas are receiving the same kind of reports. The complaints range from verbal abuse and anti-social behaviour to fighting, leading to the assault of one young man, and even class A drug use. Today, we have had to report that three teenaged boys, the oldest being 16, have been arrested in connection with a serious assault in Southport town centre. 

These are children of 16 years of age and under.

Parents/carers, It’s time to start asking your children questions. Where are they going? Who are they going to be with? What are they going to be doing? How are children under the age of 16 staying out all night? Could they be among the groups being complained about?

No one wants to stop “kids being kids”, but we do want everyone, especially young people, to be safe when they go out. We do want to reduce the risk of young people becoming victims of crime and we do want to stop young people from having their future’s compromised by becoming offenders. 

We need your help to this. Ask the questions. Keep children in your care safe.