YORK police chief John Lacy is a man with a difficult job, one of the toughest in this city. Chief superintendent Lacy's interview with the Evening Press tonight illustrates the pressures he faces in confronting crime.
As Mr Lacy reveals, ahead of official figures, crime in the York and Selby area has soared in the last year by 17 per cent. This is the news no one wants to hear - but it is the news of interest to everyone.
Crime affects us all, both directly and indirectly. It is the police officer's problem and the victim's problem; it is the politician's problem; it is society's problem. The fight against crime embraces the personal and the political - the personal when a crime affects you, and the political because politics often dictates how and when money can be spent on maintaining law and order.
As we explore at length on this page, crime among the young remains a significant issue.
Mr Lacy explains the difficulties his officers face thanks to a small but extremely disruptive number of youths, who increasingly question all forms of authority.
One of the solutions should lie in consulting young people. It is no good merely viewing the young as a nuisance and a difficulty, especially when most of them are no such thing at all.
A local strategic partnership has been given the job of finding a vision for York. This body, which includes Mr Lacy, is made up of people who have a distinguished track record in city leadership. What it lacks is a young voice.
York needs to listen to its young, to hear what they say and to take note. Young people with nothing to do are always in danger of straying towards trouble. York needs to find more for the young to do, to develop more facilities such as the skatepark at Foss Islands Road.
More generally, those who need the police must never be left feeling that they are a low priority. Crime may be society's problem, with prevention being an important element, but the police should never give the impression that they are too busy or too under-funded to care.
Updated: 11:14 Friday, May 03, 2002
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