POLICE are having to take on a Czech-speaking youth worker to try to stop hordes of Eastern European teenagers terrorising a cathedral city in the West Country.
One resident said they see community support officers but never real policeGloucester residents claim the teenagers have been victimising children in local parks, playing loud music and rampaging about drunkenly.
One local mother, Suzanna Brickel, said: “I won’t walk through the park when they’re out in big numbers because they are just intimidating.
“They get drunk, they shout and swear and spit at you and the litter they drop is disgusting.
“If you try to talk to them they say they can’t speak English.”
Another resident, Helen White, said “We see police community support officers in the park from time to time but never real police officers and I think that’s what’s needed. The other day I saw a gang of these kids kicking a ball at people deliberately and being very aggressive.”
In one inner-city playground alone there were 70 complaints of anti-social activity last year.
In the past few weeks Gloucestershire Police created dispersal orders for two city parks in the Barton and Tredworth areas in a bid to stop the Czech youths causing trouble.
But residents said there were no signs that the anti-social behaviour had been curbed.
This has led to plans to bring in a Czech-speaking youth worker to join the police outreach team, even though it could cost the cash-strapped force up to £30,000 a year.
In one inner-city playground alone there were 70 complaints of anti-social activityYesterday, Gerard Batten, Ukip home affairs spokesman, said: “This problem is as a direct result of mass immigration. The police now have to employ a specialist to counter crime in groups of foreign nationals.
“We have created a problem that did not need to be created and now it is going to cost us to fix it.”
Police Sergeant Tim Wood, who runs the local beat team in the affected areas, said: “We are aware that this is a major issue and we have come up with a detailed plan.
“We have set up a youth club which will run on Monday nights because the fact of the matter is that they are bored.”
Police hope the new youth worker can “reach into the community”.
Migrant yobs have led to problems elsewhere, too.
North Wales Police are struggling to cope with soaring numbers of Poles, while Sussex police revealed last month they are trying to recruit 30 new community support officers who are fluent in Hungarian, Polish, Latvian or Romanian to deal with the huge immigrant community in Arun.