Peterborough shop owner 'disappointed' police did not attend call to deal with rowdy youths
A shop owner in Peterborough has voiced his disappointment at being unable to get police to attend an incident of anti-social behaviour outside his store.
Vid Soni, owner of convenience store City News, in Westgate, said he tried to get officers to call at this shop on January 17 when six youths wearing facing coverings became rowdy outside his premises during the day.
He said: “Despite several requests police did not attend.
"It was really disappointing that not one officer was able to attend.
"But I feel it is important police should attend this type of incidents because if something is not done these youths will keep on doing this.
"And this is not the first time youths have behaved like this – there have been others and on one occasion they came into the shop and left their bikes inside.”
Mr Soni attended a crime group meeting of Peterborough Positive to speak about his problems with anti-social behaviour from youths.
Neighbourhood police sergeant Steve Rose said: “Unfortunately, the police do not have an infinite amount of resources.
"There will be occasions when city centre officers are called away to major incidents.
"On this occasion officers were required to deal with 50 hare coursers that were discovered at Hadden, near Peterborough.
After the meeting, Sgt Rose said: “We’re always disappointed when we can’t get out to a disturbance like this but we do have to prioritise and officers have to go where they are most needed.
“We don’t have an endless supply of police officers. In an ideal situation we would have been able to get there, especially on Saturday as we have officers in the city centre, but on this occasion an incident was happening elsewhere that required a lot of resources.
"I’d urge people to call us if they need us. We will always try to get to an incident if we can.”