Wednesday - October 08, 2008

POLICE PROTECT CITIZENS BY ARRESTING CITIZENS WHO CHOP DOWN TREES USED BY THUGS. HUH?

Just another example of (one of many) when a law abiding citizen has had too much.
Guy kills trees,,, guy gets arrested.

Bet the punks are laughing.

Resident who chopped down trees used by yobs to hide from CCTV camera is arrested and charged with criminal damage

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:30 PM on 08th October 2008

A public spirited resident chopped down two trees to stop yobs sheltering behind them - and was promptly arrested by police.

Keith Best, 42, took the law into his own hands because the trees were obscuring the view of a crucial CCTV camera.

He acted because louts and vandals have been making life hell for fed-up families in his street - and they were not being captured red-handed on film. 

Furious Mr Best, who has lived in the street for 20 years, decided enough was enough and cut down the two trees in a bid to stop the trouble.

But he was shocked to be confronted by four police officers at his front door after he’d acted for the good of the neighbourhood in Dagenham, Essex, .

‘I thought they were knocking the door in,’ said Mr Best. ‘I opened it and there were four police officers standing there.

‘I let them in as I had nothing to hide. One of the officers said ‘Did you cut a couple of trees down?’ and I said, ‘yes, I did’.

‘He said, ‘I’m arresting you for criminal damage’ and read me my rights. I near enough fell through the floor.

“They said I could pay an £80 penalty notice or they would take it to court. I said, ‘fair enough, I’ll take it to court’.’

Mr Best said the yobs had turned his once peaceful neighbourhood into a war zone and had assaulted a pensioner and two young people.

‘People don’t feel safe sitting in their own back gardens,’ he said.

‘People have had bottles thrown at their cars, others have had abuse shouted at them.

‘One boy was beaten up and another stabbed. There are a lot of older people who are afraid even to open their doors.’

He said when people phoned the police they were routinely told a response unit would be sent but it never turned up. Complaints to the local council and the Safer Neighbourhood Team had also done little to help, he said.

Mr Best said that about a month before he chopped down the trees which had been obscuring the cameras for three years he phoned Barking and Dagenham Council and asked them to take them down but nothing was done.

He said: ‘The trees are a meeting point for the youths - we get between a dozen and 25 of them.

‘It is where they drink and take drugs - we have actually found used syringes down there. They use it as a toilet and we have even seen them having sex around there.

‘Up until three weeks ago it was pretty much every night.

‘I went out there on September 6 at about 11am, in full view of everyone, I wasn’t hiding anything, and cut them down.

‘The council had done nothing to make things better for us, so the residents had had enough.

‘They couldn’t be bothered to get off their backsides to protect us and our property, or even their own property, so I decided to do something. The residents said, ‘good for you’.’

Mr Best has been given 21 days to pay the fine but has decided to make a stand and force the issue to court. He and his neighbours are lobbying their Safer Neighbourhood Team and council for better lighting and fencing and more police patrols at night.

‘I was only trying to make the situation better for those living in the area and for those who use the community hall,’ he said.

His neighbour Julie Reynolds, 37, a child minder and mother of two teenage sons, said the residents backed Mr Best and were disgusted with his treatment.

She said: ‘It is utterly ridiculous. He’s trying to help the council and the neighbours - these youths have been causing chaos.

‘He’s the only one who’s doing anything to help. No one wants to help so he took it into his own hands.

‘Now he’s been arrested and fined, it’s just ludicrous.

‘The kids are getting away with criminal damage, aggravating everybody and causing a nuisance. All Keith has done is cut trees down to make way for the CCTV.

‘He has been punished and the kids are getting away scot free.

‘We call the police and it takes them three or four hours to get here and it’s too late. But they send four officers to arrest Keith.

‘I think he did the right thing and I think the way he has been treated is disgusting.’

Fanshawe Community Hall chair Tracey Benson said the vandals had badly damaged the wall at the back of the building, hacking at it with a scaffolding pole.

She said: “They keep coming back and making it worse. It’s a mess. We’ve had a lot of graffiti as well.”

Other buildings in the area have also been targeted, including an NHS clinic which had water pipes ripped from its walls and a shop where cardboard boxes stored outside were set light.

Mr Best added that since the trees had been cut down there has been no more vandalism or new graffiti on the community hall.

PC Anthony Roll of the Met’s Safer Neighbourhood Team said they would tackle the problems.

He said: ‘We are aware of the campaign. Teams have got on top of the problems in other wards and we are confident we will get on top of the problems in this ward as well.’

http://tinyurl.com/3mwwa2

Posted by Drew458     on 10/08/2008 at 10:48 AM   
Filed Under: • Crime • Miscellaneous • Outrageous • UK •  
• Comments (4) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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