Rise in Feral Gangs of Teenagers - Is this UK Wide?

[Feralgroups]

Are all areas of the UK seeing a rise in feral and uncontrollable gangs of teenagers - leading up to and particularly problematic last night (so-called "Mischief Night?")

Where I live this has been a growing problem in ALL areas of our county - both in affluent and less affluent areas.

I am particularly concerned as I am a key worker who is trying to shield as much as possible but will be having to continue to work with such groups who clearly are not.

In addition, it is as though they have finally realised the Police have no control over their numbers. They no longer even care that they are filmed and (rightly or wrongly) then plastered, faces uncovered, all over Social Media. They are even posting themselves, boasting about their exploits.

As far as I am concerned this is one of the biggest problems to arise during the COVID situation.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mods_and_rockers#:~:text=Mods%20and%20rockers%20were%20two,perceived%20as%20violent%2C%20unruly%20troublemakers.

I don't think it's anything new.

allthatsinteresting.com/teddy-boy

www.thesun.co.uk/news/1823880/revealing-and-shocking-pictures-of-1980s-skinheads-are-released-more-than-30-years-on/

Social Media probably makes them more visible.

It's a very small minority which gives every other teen a bad name unfortunately.

He concedes that mods and rockers had some fights in the mid-1960s, but argues that they were no different from the evening brawls that occurred between youths throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, both at seaside resorts and after football games.

What is happening around me at the moment is real. It's not brawling between gangs it's gangs of teenagers literally just throwing bricks through house and car windows, buses (who now won't go through some of the estates), fireworks fired directly at the public etc.

Our local bus route has been stopped, apparently due due teenagers attacking the buses. My ds is autistic and he won't be able to get the bus he has been travel trained to use, which is causing me great stress about how he will get to college on Monday (especially as he has a GCSE that day!)

read://https_listverse.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flistverse.com%2F2015%2F02%2F19%2F10-deadly-street-gangs-of-the-victorian-era%2F%23%3A~%3Atext%3D10%2520Deadly%2520Street%2520Gangs%2520Of%2520The%2520Victorian%2520Era%2CGang.%25209%2520Peaky%2520Blinders.%252010%2520The%2520Rip%2520Raps.

Isn’t this what bored disaffected teenagers have always done? More visible due to social media but the mainstream media do always love to ramp up the hype about youths running wild.

An increase is entirely to be expected this year due to Covid restrictions massively and disproportionately impacting on youth unemployment, activities and general life opportunities. We’re asking a group of people who are unaffected personally by the virus but have been hugely let down by society to take one for the team and sit at home watching tv with their parents indefinitely. Not going to happen is it?

@CaptainMyCaptain

I'm not saying that teenage anarchy is a new thing. Where I live it has definitely escalated dramatically over lockdown. Massive increase of theft (particularly motorbikes and pushbikes) vandalism of cars, property and parks, violence towards strangers (not rival gangs) etc.

My 19 year old is dog sitting for his dad and gone and gone to the local shop and bought his own pumpkins and sweets for any child trick or treaters tonight and my 17 year old is about 8 hours in to her Tesco shift.

Stop demonising teenagers, most of whom don't deserve it and are dealing with a much scarier world than this time last year.

@Holyrivolli

Absolutely! Those already feeling disenfranchised before the first lockdown seem to be kicking back wholeheartedly - probably for all of the reasons you have stated above. The knock-on effect is the theft and destruction of property of those who are also trying to deal with the hand dealt to them during this period.

That sounds awful but maybe it is quite local to you. I hadn't noticed an increase near me (former mining area not somewhere posh).

@Emeeno1

I am not demonising "teenagers" as a whole. My question was whether there has been a dramatic rise in anti-social behaviour elsewhere in the UK. I'm guessing your answer would be 'no'. Statistics say otherwise where I live, not just SM anecdotal evidence.

@captainmycaptain

Last night was the pinnacle. Three large zones identified by Police with specific curfews but not enough bodies to enforce anything. At least three, separate areas where house and car windows were smashed indiscriminately. Youths filmed themselves in the back of Police cars boasting about their exploits at an estate where they had attacked buses (who had only just returned to the area for night routes) smashed windows and fired fireworks at houses. Front garden displays vandalised and stolen from...

No. We don’t have those issues here.

@Emeeno1 well I could say that my 14year old is volunteering at a homeless hostel whilst sidelining as a guide dog trainer at the same time as helping cure cancer but that means absolutely fuck all.

Our kids thankfully and hopefully are not the ones being utterly screwed over by this. They have money, food, family support, warm and safe house, no threat from gangs. Many other kids don’t and we as a country have pulled up the drawbridge and asked them to put any prospect of a better life and any fun on hold to protect someone else’s granny. I’m not surprised that increasing numbers are deciding that playing by the rules doesn’t pay for them.

Yep, never been particularly nice here, but getting worse. It's not demonising teenagers ffs I have 2, who I'm quite worried about the safety of. Ds1 has never been the type who would fit in here and has been relentlessly bullied by local kids.

Some people on here really do live in a bubble.

I think they're just more visible in the absence of other demographics being out and about.

@Holyrivolli This is exactly how the behaviour is playing out here. Their aim seems to be to cause mayhem and destroy other people's belongings - which may be because they are angry and jealous that they don't have those things themselves. I can only imagine what life was like for them during the full UK lockdown when they were at home.

My question was a genuine one. I wondered whether this was a UK-wide problem. Did no other areas have an awful 'Mischief Night?'

That sounds like a shocking breakdown in your area @Feralgroups. I've been googling crime statistics in my area and can't find any reports on anything like that happening, nothing about gangs and a search for 'teenage crime' only brought a couple of instances of teenagers as victims. Things seem to be much as usual where I am. I'm not being smug, I'm horrified that this is happening anywhere.

No, it isn't something I've either noticed / perceived, nor is it held up in the Police statistics.
Sounds awful though.
In so many ways, it doesn't matter if it is happening in any other MNer's area, if it is affecting you, then it is affecting you.

I found a report of teenage gang violence and vandalism, not near me but in my County. It all seems to be happening in one park so probably only a handful taking part but needs stopping all the same.

It doesn't sound as bad as what you described though
*Anti-social behaviour - including shouting, swearing, smashing glass and generally causing a nuisance - has been reported.

A lot of litter has also been left around the area, a police spokesman said.*