Police struggle to combat youth vandalism in King’s Park as trees set on fire and A-listed building vandalised

Reports of ‘worrying’ vandalism in King’s Park including trees being set on fire and stones thrown at an A-listed building have sparked calls for more police patrols.

Bailie Margaret Morgan said she has received ‘an awful lot of complaints’ about anti-social behaviour in the park as well as requests for an increased police presence at weekends. Residents have also raised concerns over stones being thrown at the A-listed Aikenhead House within the park.

A Police Scotland representative urged residents to continue phoning 999 if vandalism occurs as ‘the more calls we get the easier it is for us to justify why we are spending our time in King’s Park’.

He said there had been a ‘substantial improvement’ in parks within the Linn ward this year but King’s Park was ‘probably the one that we do get the most calls about at the moment’.

Bailie Morgan, speaking at a Linn area partnership meeting last week, said: “I seem to have an awful lot of complaints of anti-social behaviour happening in King’s Park.

“That extends to vandalism, stones getting thrown at Aikenhead House, trees being set on fire, which is very, very worrying because it could really escalate.

“I’ve been asked to request if there could be some kind of police presence at weekends. I know that you’re very hard pushed but I just wondered if there is a possibility of that because it seems to be escalating. It seems to be pretty serious and ongoing.”

The police officer said the force does ‘try to get into the park on a regular basis’. They said:“Sod’s law if we are in the area there’s nobody else there,” he said. “We get calls and we see the kids at the top of the hill, if we walk in or drive in we’re seen and they scatter.

“In the past we’ve had eight to 10 officers, and that’s exceptional that we can spare eight to 10 officers, to tackle them from all angles and then take them back to their parents, depending on what it is they have actually done.”

He added if people in King’s Park are ‘calling in because stones are being thrown at windows and they are dialling 999, a response vehicle will be dispatched’.

“It’s all dependent on the severity of other calls on the screen, but a 999 call moves to the top of the list quite quickly.”

“I would encourage the people making the calls to keep the calls coming in. The more calls we get the easier it is for us to justify why we are spending our time in King’s Park at the expense of Linn Park or Cathkin or wherever else it happens to be.”

Earlier in the meeting, the officer had said there had been ‘a lot of issues in Linn Park’ last year, particularly with ‘youngsters over the summer and in the evenings’.

“This year we haven’t had the same issues in Linn Park, that’s not to say there has been none,” he said.

“In terms of the officer hours that we were having to put in there last year, we would be there for an entire Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night, moving upwards of several hundred youths, taking drink off people. That hasn’t been the situation this year so a big improvement.”

However, he admitted there had been ‘mixed results’ in King’s Park. He said there has been some ‘minor’ youth anti-social behaviour but added: “I’m sure if you’ve been suffering from it it’s not minor.”