SCHOOLKIDS used to be terrified as they spilled on to the streets at the end of their day in class.
Pupils heading home were routinely mugged by gangs who had often travelled from neighbouring areas specifically to rob them.
John McLellanCrime rates between pupils in Enfield, North London have almost halved thanks to Mum Power[/caption]
Jade Chantelle and Leanna Baggaly started Mums Against Youth Attacks after Jade’s 12-year-old daughter Ellisia was assaulted in April
But now, three years later, crime rates in Enfield, North London have almost halved thanks to Mum Power.
Emma Rigby, 45, who has two children, set up the Love Your Doorstep parent patrols in 2019.
The 30-strong team operates in Enfield Town from 3pm on school days to deter gangs and help keep children safe.
And it’s not just in London.
Parents in Chorley, Lancs have also leapt into action.
The Sun on Sunday watched them at work this week as half a dozen brave volunteers took to the streets armed with nothing more than a high-vis jacket and walkie-talkie.
The initiative has been credited with a 48-per-cent reduction in muggings and anti-social behaviour.
Emma said: “It’s amazing what a high-vis jacket will do. Last Friday, three boys rode into town all masked up.
“As soon as they saw us, they cycled away.
“The other day a couple of boys were about to start a fight. One of them dropped his bag. I shouted ‘Oi!’ and they stopped. About 95 per cent of them are just kids being kids and they will listen to an adult.”
The group is now being asked to help start new patrols in nearby Edmonton, where yet another teenager was fatally stabbed recently, as well as in neighbouring Southgate and in Dulwich, South East London.
Emma said: “We are by no means a vigilante group.
“We are local people who act as eyes and ears for the police, and mostly to keep our kids safe. Enfield Town has become a different place since we started.”
‘It can be intimidating’
The killing of 15-year-old schoolgirl Elianne Andam last month in Croydon, South London sent shockwaves across the country — yet it is far from an isolated incident.
The latest Office for National Statistics figures, from 2021 to 2022, show 3,500 knife and offensive weapon offences were committed by children, and around four per cent (one in 25) of young people in England and Wales are estimated to carry a weapon one or more times each year.
Metropolitan Police data showed Enfield had the highest levels of serious youth violence — defined as any serious violent offence or offence with a weapon by someone aged up to 19 — in London during the year to January 2022, with 321 victims.
In the year to September 2022, there were 293.
Incidents of thefts, robberies and anti-social behaviour are down.
Emma added: “A lot has happened with our relationship with the community and the police.
“We have always worked closely with the Met, but there was a time when there was not much police presence on the streets here.
“For about a year and a half we did not have much or any support, as the police station here had closed down.
“But since June this year we have seen more police presence.
“There is a superintendent assigned to every area in London now and the police are more engaged, with uniformed and non-uniformed officers on patrol.”
Love Your Doorstep is making its mark too.
The patrols started at a time when gangs from the nearby borough of Haringey would regularly take the train to Enfield to steal money, phones and clothes from local students, easy to spot in uniforms.
Emma added: “A lot of these crimes — mugging, shoplifting, car thefts and burglary — have effectively been decriminalised because there are not enough resources to deal with them. Our children used to be easy pickings and we would hear about Year Seven kids having their coats, lunch money and house keys stolen. All our children have been mugged. It’s no longer a case of if your child will get mugged, it’s when.
“With girls it tends to be sexual harassment rather than getting robbed. Just us being here makes them feel safer.
“My 16-year-old son was mugged for his phone a couple of weeks ago. Three boys followed him and took it. I drove into town with him afterwards to look at the CCTV.
“The boys were standing outside a charity store and I took their photo and handed it to the police, who already knew who they were. They were arrested the next day.”
Mum-of-two Juliette Doggett, 55, a film and TV extra, also goes on patrol.
She said: “Enfield Town is not a pleasant place to be after 3.30pm. There are so many kids on the streets, it can be intimidating.
SuppliedAttackers rain blows on Elissia after kicking her to floor in sickening clip[/caption]
“Luckily we haven’t had any weapons-related incidents but we have had drug-related. Things can escalate quickly but having an adult present in high-vis really makes all the difference.
“If we ever see an older kid talking to a younger child with their arm around them, we call that the hugger mugger. We will go over and say, ‘Hi, are you OK?’ Do you need directions?’.”
A minimum of four volunteers have to be on every patrol.
They have safeguarding and first-aid training, plus a £10million insurance policy.
The team keeps in touch with local businesses through a WhatsApp group.
They are not taught self-defence or citizen’s arrest, and call the police if a situation is dangerous.
Patrols are springing up around the country.
In Chorley, Jade Chantelle, 42, started Mums Against Youth Attacks after her 12-year-old daughter Ellisia was assaulted in April.
In a shocking video, the girl is kicked and punched to the floor by fellow pupils.
Jade said: “We are forced to take matters into our own hands, and patrol areas in which teens are known to launch violent attacks.”
Humiliating videos
Street crime by young people in Chorley was debated in Parliament on July 3 when it was revealed its town centre is one of a number of areas that will receive anti-social behaviour hotspot patrols.
The initiative followed reports a gang of teens was holding the community to ransom by anti-social behaviour.
Jade believes teenagers around the country have been allowed to run riot for too long.
She added: “This is the Wild West — kids attacking kids and no repercussions. We have to be vigilant mums.”
Fellow patroller Leanna Baggley, whose daughter was attacked, added: “It’s the same all over the country. It’s up to the parents now.”
The MAYA mums are working with policing minister Chris Philp’s office to push through legislation that lowers the age at which a civil injunction can be issued for persistent anti-social behaviour, and to make it illegal to share video of attacks on social media.
Jade said: “This is a type of “patterning”, where humiliating videos of a young person are shared on social media. It normalises violence.The long-term impact on victims like our children is horrendous and it turned it into a game for kids to video even more vicious assaults. There has to be tough action.”
Jade said her daughter went to hospital after the April attack and has been traumatised.
But she warned: “They’re not only attacking 11-year-old kids, they’re attacking members of the public, bars, pubs, people’s businesses.
“MAYA is a group of mums who refuse to sit back and wait for someone else to fix it. So we patrol the streets and campaign to change legislation, we’ll not be complacent.”
A Met spokesman said schools officers across Enfield are in regular contact with the group and “take forward any issues of concern that require police involvement”.
Details about crime should be flagged to police — 999 in an emergency or 101 to report information.
SuppliedThese gangs often travelled from neighbouring areas specifically to rob them[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
