Mosquito's annoy

Buzz off

A new weapon in the fight against Anti-social Behaviour is being fitted at the Grange, Botcherby, later this month funded by Carlisle and Eden Crime & Disorder Reduction Partnership.

As a direct response to 151 calls for service to the police between June - August 2007 (16 from neighbours), compared to only 53 for the same period in 2006 (4 from neighbours). Anti-social Behaviour has increased as has disorder, damage, and verbal abuse. Residents and staff are woken up at all hours of the morning with local youths drinking and causing disorder in the street and grounds. Consequently a number of proactive methods are being employed to deal with the problems, including high profile police patrols and the installation of several mosquito units.

The Mosquito ultrasonic device is the solution that has been chose for the Grange. Acclaimed by Police forces of many areas of the United Kingdom, it has been described as 'one of the most effective tool in our fight against anti-social behaviour'. The units have an effective range of between fifteen and twenty meters, it is non-invasive, that has been specifically designed to disperse groups of teenagers. It produces a signal close to the limit of hearing, in people up to the age of 25 years. Although the sound is not painful or damaging in anyway, it does become highly irritating after five to ten minutes exposure. The result is that the majority of under 25's leave the immediate area, while those over 30, because of natural hearing loss or Presbycusis, (age related hearing loss), which affects the highest frequencies (18 to 20 kHz) are in the main unable to hear the noise.

Throughout Carlisle and District Anti-social behaviour incidents fell by a total 1511 incidents or 26%, interventions like the Mosquito linked to proactive policing have played a significant part in reducing these figures.

Countywide there has also been a significant fall in Anti-social Behaviour. During the period between April and July 2006 there were a total of 19,547 reported incidents, during the same period during 2007 there were a total of 15,290 reported incidents. A drop of, 4,257 reported incidents, an overall decrease of 22%.

Mary Robinson, Chair of Carlisle & Eden CDRP said:

the Mosquito is a short term intervention, designed to reduce anti-social behaviour. One of many successful solutions used to prevent nuisance behaviour throughout North Cumbria and is easily relocatable to deal with any prob. This type of device used in conjunction with youth engagement activities, and improved street lighting go a long way towards contributing to a better quality of life for all, and creating an environment where people can feel secure.

Cllr Judy Prest portfolio holder for Health and Wellbeing said:

the CDRP has through working in partnership with the local community significantly reduced Anti-social Behaviour. By installing devices like Mosquito we are showing that we will not tolerate our residents lives being made a misery and that we as a CDRP are serious about dealing with Anti-social Behaviour as part of the drive to make Carlisle a Cleaner, Greener and Safer place for all residents.