Youth disorder reports on rise - and one ward has been singled out as the worst

The Anderston/City/Yorkhill ward is the worst affected area in the city, with 255 incidents reported between April and September this year – up from 167.

It is one of five wards where the number of reports has climbed above 200 when compared to last year’s figures.

The statistics, compiled for each Glasgow City Council ward, were presented to meetings of the council’s area partnerships.

In total, 3426 incidents were reported from April to September this year, compared to 3154 for the same period last year.

A council spokesman said the authority is working in partnership with Police Scotland to crackdown on “problematic areas”.

There has been significant reductions in some areas, with 175 reports so far this financial year in Southside Central, where there were 293 reports in the same period last year. Govan has dropped from 282 reports to 199.

They were the only wards to have more than 200 reports between April and September 2018.

However, the statistics in Greater Pollok show a rise in reported incidents from 173 to 250 and, in Garscadden/Scotstounhill, the numbers increased from 131 to 219.

In Maryhill there has been 205 reports compared to 168 last year, with 201 in the East Centre ward, up from 154.

The council spokesman said: “We are aware of complaints about youth disorder in specific areas of the city.

“It’s a concerning trend and we continue to work in partnership with the police targeting problematic areas and engaging with local young people and youth organisations.”

The other top 10 worst-hit ­areas are Govan, Springburn/­Robroyston, Langside, Southside Central and Cardonald.

Springburn/Robroyston had 189 reports from April to September, up by only seven from last year. However, Langside rose significantly from 88 reports to 178 reports.

The Cardonald ward had 171 reports, down from 197 in the same period one year earlier.

Victoria Park, Linn, Partick East and Kelvindale and Newlands/Auldburn were the wards with the lowest number of reports, with less than 100. Only Victoria Park and Linn had seen a reduction from last year. No data was available for the Calton ward.

Last month, the Glasgow Times revealed the number of crimes committed by children in the city, as young as eight, had increased for the third year in a row in 2018/19.

Figures, revealed in a community justice report, for 2018/19 showed more than 3900 incidents involving young people between the age of eight and 15, rising from 2742 in 2015/16.

“We do not yet have a clear picture of what is driving these increases, we do know that there is a strong link between deprivation, inequality and crime,” a council officer said at the time.

“Recent economic factors are likely to offer some explanation, but we need to fully understand what other factors are contributing – this will be a key focus of the One Glasgow and the Youth Justice Strategy Group partners going forward.”

The One Glasgow initiative takes a partnership approach to youth crime.

Sergeant Michael Fletcher, One Glasgow hub supervisor for Police Scotland, said the scheme helped identify and reach out to young people at risk of getting involved in offending.

“These young people often come from backgrounds blighted by poverty, very unstable family circumstances, addictions, early childhood trauma etc,” he said.

“Our partners are our biggest asset, providing the skills and expertise across a variety of services to reach out to our young people and meet the wide ranging, often complex, needs, and underlying drivers of their offending behaviour, giving them that sense of purpose and hope – we could not deliver this on our own.”

Police Scotland’s figures did reveal a fall in recorded crimes for all other age groups – 16 to 18, 18 to 21 and 21 to 25.