Last updated 05:42, Friday, 19 September 2008

IT ONLY takes a relatively small number of drunken louts shouting and swearing, pushing and shoving, fighting or damaging property to make a large number of innocent passers-by feel ill at ease and intimidated.

And given that 853 incidents of disorder were reported in the city centre in just six months it’s likely that, in fact, there are quite a lot of troublemakers out on the streets.

It is unacceptable that local people and visitors wanting to enjoy a visit to a cinema or restaurant or some late-night Christmas shopping should have to run the gauntlet of aggressive or incoherent – and sometimes vomiting or urinating – yobs.

Just as it was unacceptable for shoppers and families in the city ahead of the fire show earlier this month to be caught up in the frightening and violent scenes before and after the Carlisle-Leeds United match.

So we warmly welcome the special powers granted to Carlisle police to issue dispersal orders, with the potential of a serious wake-up call if an order is flouted and a criminal charge brought which results in a fine or imprisonment.

As Chief Superintendent Andy Davidson says, partnership is the key to cracking down on disorder – and that should involve not just the police and other agencies but every parent or guardian in the county.

Carlisle police now have the power to escort home unaccompanied youngsters under 16 who are out on the streets in a dispersal zone between 9pm and 6am. They also have the power to move on anyone who could potentially cause trouble.

If the officers have to exercise that power, it is to be hoped that the parents as well as the children get a strong telling off.

Since 1969 a TV channel in the USA has opened its late evening news programme with the words: “It’s 10pm. Do you know where your children are?”

Perhaps something similar would be useful here to instil a sense of responsibility into parents who allow young teenagers to wander the streets until the early hours of the morning without knowing where they are or what they are up to.