POLICE have enforced an order under the Criminal Justice and Disorder Act in a bid to stop "rampaging" youths from running wild in Rainhill Village.

This was the first time such an order has been issued in the borough and in just two hours officers from the Operational Support Division (OSD) and St Helens stopped and questioned 77 youths. One youth was arrested and charged with possession of an offensive weapon.

The clampdown followed a series of incidents on Friday, January 28 when about 50 youths rampaged through the village.

One resident, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Star: "There were gangs of up to 50 rampaging round the village with metal bars - one was even wielding an axe. In the end the shops had to close early as the staff were too frightened to work.

"I recently read an article in your paper about the gangs in Rainhill Village which said extra police had been drafted in to combat the problem. I work in the village on most nights and have not yet seen these so-called extra police." Sgt Paul Phillips, said: "Over the last few months we have been concentrating on the youth problem in Rainhill. At the start of January it was a lot quieter but for some reason on January 28 everything started up again. This prompted to invoke the order under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, which gave us the power to stop and search people in the area for 24 hours.

"As well as local youths, we stopped many from Prescot, Whiston and Huyton. In all we stopped 77 youths in two hours and arrested one for possession of an offensive weapon. We are cracking down on serious disorder and will be continuing to deal with the youth disorder."

Rainhill councillor, Mike Doyle, commented: "This has been a long-running issue and the police have tried to give their attention to the problematic areas, but now they have been forced into this purge. Councillors and the police are working with the youth service to find out why this is happening. We are also looking at the possibilities of employing a full-time youth worker and re-opening the youth club.

"Some of the responsibilty for what is happening has got to rest with parents. They should know where their children are and what they are up to. The local community, police, councillors and parents need to work together to solve this problem.

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