SHADOW Home Secretary and MP for Blackburn, Jack Straw today unveiled his revolutionary plans which would give councils power to sweep child criminals off the streets.

On the face of it this is a splendid idea.

Communities throughout Britain are sick and tired of tiny terrors under the age of ten who intimidate neighbours and run riot on estates. East Lancashire in particular has had its fill of this type of unacceptable behaviour.

But the success of such a scheme would depend on co-operation from within the community, and by that we mean the whole community...members of the public, local politicians, police, council officials and MPs.

All the legislation in the world will not bring back a semblance of order to our streets and estates without the whole-hearted support of the community at large.

Hearts and minds would have to be won over at an early stage.

And complaints would have to be taken seriously. All too often in the past harassed East Lancashire householders have contacted the Evening Telegraph offices to say that their complaints about unsocial behaviour have been ignored by officialdom.

Everybody would have a part to play under Jack Straw's scheme.

Local councillors would be expected to take complaints seriously and put party political point scoring games to one side.

The needs and aspirations of the victims of young thugs would have to be taken more into account than they are at the moment. Too often they are left in a state of shock and frustration.

There would have to be support from all sides.

If the community at large believed that officialdom in the form of local authorities and the police was only pay lip service to such a scheme, it would fail dismally.

But there is no doubt that something of this nature is needed to remove the fear from our streets.

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