A recent survey has revealed startling differences in attitudes to police among young people in north west Newcastle.
| The police are very rash in stopping young people. They stop them for being in a large group or looking a bit dodgy. |
The survey carried out by the Cowgate-based RAVE (Research Against Violence Everywhere) group, a group of eight young people who are pupils at Firfield Community School was carried out early this year and shows a significant amount of dissatisfaction with police. Their research was sponsored by the Cowgate Family Support Team.
The team interviewed more than 350 12 to 15 year old pupils at Firfield Community and Ponteland High Schools to find out what young people's attitudes towards the police were and what their perceptions of police behaviour towards them were.
Firfield Community School mainly draws pupils from Blakelaw, Cowgate and Fenham while Ponteland High draws from Ponteland, Darras Hall and Westerhope.
The results showed a startling difference between the two schools in young people's experience of police and in their attitudes towards police.
According to their survey, less than a third (30%) of Firfield pupils trust the police while more than two thirds (70%) of Ponteland pupils do.
Three quarters (75%) of Firfield pupils feel police stop them for no reason. Almost half (49%) of Ponteland pupils think the same.
Two thirds of Firfield pupils (64%) dislike the police, compared to 18% at Ponteland.
A third (37%) of Firfield pupils say that a police officer has sworn at them. The figure for Ponteland is 4%.
75% of Firfield pupils feel that police are likely to arrest young people for no reason. At Ponteland High 49% of pupils believe the same.
Most students at both schools feel that police are generally helpful to young people but 23% at Ponteland School and 37% at Firfield feel the police are actually unhelpful.
A fifth of Firfield pupils interviewed said they had used bad language to the police compared to just 3% of Ponteland pupils.
Firfield pupils are ten times more likely to have been arrested than Ponteland pupils with 39% claiming to have been arrested amongst the Firfield students.
Being "searched for nothing" was cause for some resentment among a significant amount of the young people interviewed.
Members of the RAVE group who carried out the survey said they believed it was the frequent presence of the police in the Firfield pupils' home areas that chiefly caused the friction between police and young people.
Another 14 year old said "The police are very rash in stopping young people. They stop them for being in a large group or looking a bit dodgy."
A 13 year old Darras Hall resident said "The police are rough when young people do get stopped and they don't listen to what you have to say."
One 14 year old Ponteland pupil said he had been arrested for accidentally walking into a car mirror in the dark.
One 13 year old echoed the feelings of many however when he said "They are helpful and reliable and do their job as well as they can."
About the team
By Editors Philip Lockyer, 15 and Steve Boyle 15 and reporters Matthew Dixon, 9 and Allan Knox, 10. This story was published in the North West Post in Newcastle upon Tyne.
