Jim Ferguson

Posts Tagged ‘vandals’

Its unacceptable to see such distress caused to people who take a pride in their property and who seem to be getting plagued by acts of vandalism. Of course its not the Police who we should be blaming as they are doing a great job overall. Its the courts and the pathetic weak justice system under this present SNP Administration and until stiffer sentances and proper deterents are put in place we will see this kind of problem growing worse.

Jim Ferguson

CALLS for tougher punishments for vandals who cause blight their communities have been made following a spate of attacks on Hallowe’en.
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At least three homes, one car, a garage and garden walls had yellow paint thrown on them in Balnakyle Road, Lochardil, overnight on Saturday.

Jim Ferguson, chairman of Inverness’s crime prevention panel, believes communities must be on their guard.

“We are once again witnessing acts by people who think they can get away with basic lawlessness,” he said. “The vast majority of people are sick to death of this kind of behaviour.

“What we really need is strong measures to thoroughly punish the perpetrators of damage and vandalism and, until we can find the stomach and will to do that, we are going to see more and more incidents happening across the region and it’s unfair on hardworking, decent people who have mindless thugs wrecking their property.”

Hard labour for older culprits and fines for the parents of younger vandals have been suggested by Mr Ferguson, who is also chairman of the Highlands and Islands branch of Crimestoppers – an agency which he believes could be key in catching these criminals.

“Crimestoppers offers anonymity to those with information,” he said. “But people are scared of what is being done and the problem is that there is no deterrent.

“The only way we are really going to stop these people is to make them too frightened to actually commit such crimes and at the moment they are not, which is the whole crux of the matter.

“They are basically giving two-fingers to the entire system and the community because they know they are going to get away with it and until we actually knuckle down and take robust action we are not going to get far.”

One of the victims of Saturday’s night vandalism in Lochardil was retired policeman Colin Sutherland, who was away when the paint was thrown at his window and garden wall.

“This is not an isolated Hallowe’en incident,” he declared.

“There has been other incidents. They covered the bollard in paint two or three weeks ago.”

The street bollard which was smothered in green paint. Bobby Nelson

He explained neighbours on both sides of the street had suffered similar vandalism and complained of underage drinking in the area.

“We are suffering intolerable disturbance here and over the years we have been phoning the police and getting very little or minimal response, so much so I have already written to my councillor and intend to write to my MP because it is not good enough,” continued Mr Sutherland, who praised Highland Council staff for cleaning the paint from his window last Sunday.

“The neighbours are equally incandescent with the police response over the last few years to repeated complaints of disturbance, annoyance and vandalism.”

Other vandalism on Hallowe’en included a car windscreen being broken in Ardconnel Terrace overnight and a wing mirror being ripped off a vehicle in Hill Street.

The attacks add to a series of worrying incidents over the past month including 15 cars being damaged in Hilton, paint stripper being thrown over three vehicles at Highland MOTS in Seafield Road and a £1300 window at the new £10.5 million Highland Archive and Registration Centre near Bught Park being smashed.

Inverness police are appealing for information on any of the incidents, particularly the Balnakyle Road vandalism.

“Those responsible may well have been covered in paint,” said a Northern Constabulary spokeswoman.

Anyone with information about these crimes should contact Inverness police on 01463 715555 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

andrew.dixon@inverness-courier.co.uk

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