CCTV at the Pauline Charlton Sports Pavilion caught four miscreants smashing bottles and starting fires near the building during the school holidays. The building has been attacked by vandals in the past, prompting village councillors to install the cameras.
Cllr Neville Singleton told last week’s parish council: “It shows what idiots they are – It’s all recorded on the cameras and we know exactly who they were. The police went straight to their houses and since then we’ve hardly had anyone around here.”
The cameras were installed last year with financial help from Durham County Councillors following vandalism at the pavilion.
Footage is checked every couple of days for signs of trouble.
Council members heard how PC Dave Williamson had been in regular touch with chairwoman Cllr Brenda Singleton about bad behaviour during the summer months.
Cllr Singleton praised the police for their swift response.
She said: “He [PC Williamson] said the four had been spoken to in the presence of their parents and from what he said they were grounded for the rest of the summer. He has kept us informed – in this instance the police have been brilliant.”
However, there were questions about other goings-on in the village.
Cllr Carole West said: “I get emails every couple of months from Police UK and I think in May and June there were nine incidents, including a sexual assault – we heard nothing about that.”
Cllr Singleton said the police just didn’t have time to come out to meetings now.
Elsewhere, councillors heard from the latest police report how instances of vehicle trespass on Cockfield Fell had tailed off.
But Cllr Neville Singleton revealed he’d been collared by a villager about a path near the fell. He said: “I had a complaint saying wardens don’t seem to be going down the path at the back of the fell.
“The dog muck is getting worse – can we ask the county council to go down because it’s terrible around there.”
Members agreed to pass the message on.
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