The broken window is being replaced, and new toys have been donated, but the vandals who attacked The Nursery at North Prospect two weeks ago will not be forgotten so quickly. The centre for toddlers with special needs, on the site of the old Scott hospital, had to be closed for a day, and staff there worry the vandals may return.
| Vandalising is just thick, because if they live there, theyve got to live in the environment as well. |
A few miles down the road, a walk around Mount Wise reveals how much damage is being done city-wide. Graffiti is everywhere and there are broken fences and damaged gardens. Young hooligans attack a public toilets, unfazed by being watched.
J and K, both 10 and from Plymouth, claim theyre not vandals, but they know plenty about the subject. K says vandals are stupid. Vandalising is just thick, because if they live there, theyve got to live in the environment as well, he said. If I had one pound for every bit of vandalism made, I would be a millionaire because theres lots of vandalism in my area.
J adds, rather quickly: If everyone gave me a fiver a week to smash windows, Id get up to a million pounds a day.
Vandalism, they think, has a lot to do with bribery. They say, Ill bet you some money that youll do it, and they do it, like wrecking a school roof, says J. They made a big scaffolding around a school I know. People climb on and they take off the boards, chuck it down below and smash it up, dont they?
Devon and Cornwall Police say 15% of recorded crime in Plymouth is criminal damage, and more than a third of that is done by young people aged 10-17. One in 27 one child for every classroom in the city is guilty. Under-10s are not included in the figures because they are too young to be held legally accountable.
Members of the Voice of Plymouth Students arent proud of their age-group. Adam Hodges, 16, says if hes with someone who starts to vandalise, he walks away.
His friend Neil Martin, 18, hates it as well. Everyone suffers because everything has to be repaired, he says. If youve got a park that needs to be repaired and the council has to pay for that, they take the money out of something else.
However he has some sympathy for the perpetrators. Its not just that there isnt enough for teenagers to do. Neil hints at a sense of impotence among young people. They feel that theyre doing something that they want some power over people.
He is not impressed by the punishments handed out for criminal damage. The chance of getting caught is limited, and if they do get punished it's really light, so theyre not going to be too bothered about it, he said.
Parents arent keeping control either. Adam thinks they find it difficult to keep track: The majority of parents have no ideas what their children are doing. They just say Were going over to a friends, or whatever, and parents would know no different.
J is less forgiving. Their parents dont care about them, he says, rather defensively. Theyre probably out in the pub every day.
Drugs and alcohol haunt the conversations young people have about vandalism. J believes: They do it because either their mum is a druggie or their dad. They just think its cool. K goes further: Some people are smack-heads and they vandalise because theyre drunk, or because someone bets them crack or something.
Next year, on the building site which houses The Nursery, a new community centre will be built. Children in North Prospect are going to be asked to help decorate the outside to help prevent vandalism. Its hoped that they will take pride in it, and not spray graffiti on top. Its even hoped a burst of real creativity will inspire them to stop vandalising other things too.
About the team
This article was produced by reporters Jake Powell, Susan Parnell and Paul Taylor-Clinch, 10, and Natalie Walsh, 13. A version of it was published by the Plymouth Evening Herald.
