OUR neighbourhood does not suffer much from the young hooligans, drug-takers or professional criminals who prey on so many areas not too many miles away.

Yet day-by-day we see the insidious change that eventually takes us to where we prefer not to be.

For example, the hooligan who vandalises one or more vehicles for no reason other than Friday night "fun"; the opportunist thief who steals our hard-earned treats for a four-hour "fix"; or the vandals of tomorrow who, at 10 years of age, tour the streets on their illegal off-road moto-scooters.

We appreciate that our police claim to be under-resourced to deal with what they class as "low level crime" but it is the enforcement of these basic values that establishes the attitudes of both the law-abiding and the law-breaking. If, as a society, we are unable to enforce these basic principles then we are consigning ourselves to a downward spiral of lawlessness.

I have no doubt that the parents of "little Johnny" consider his highway escapades to be nothing more than "high spirits". He is doing no harm, they might say. That is until he gets it wrong and injures, or maybe kills, himself or someone else.

So shouldn't "little Johnny" know better? Of course not, he's only 10. It is his parents, their neighbours, the local community, and the local police force who should be enforcing the prohibition of this illegal activity, not because in itself it is necessarily a serious crime, but because ignoring it sets a precedent that policing of crime is selective. That is, some crimes are acceptable and some are less so. This is wrong!

It is about time that the police started enforcing the law -- all law, not just those elements of it that are easy to enforce, such as the use of speed cameras. We have to ensure that if we, the public, stray beyond the law we will be punished -- whatever the crime, whatever our age.

It is only by establishing such basic law-abiding principles at an early age that we create a society that is fit to take us forward. The responsibility lies primarily with ourselves, as parents, and secondly with the police and the judiciary.

Ask yourself: what are you actually doing about it? If nothing, why not?

STUART EDMONDSON