CROWDS of anti-social youths from outside Glengormley are plaguing residents in the Queen's Park estate, it has been claimed.
Residents say that teenagers from as far away as Ballyduff and Rathcoole are gathering in the area, drinking alcohol, causing annoyance and damaging property. And the Times has learned that some angry householders in the estate are now contemplating
taking the law into their own hands in a bid to force the youths to move elsewhere.
One woman who lives in the estate claimed that young people from New Mossley, Ballyduff, Harmin and Rathcoole are coming into Queen's Park causing trouble, getting local youths a bad name.
"It's not the kids from Queen's Park who are to blame for this, it's a lot of youths from other areas coming into Queen's Park causing trouble and our kids are getting tarred with the same brush.
"Most of the trouble the kids from Queen's Park are getting blamed for is actually being caused by ones from other areas. It's not fair," she said.
Another resident said that he and his neighbours are fed up with the ongoing harassment.
"There might be one or two of them from Queen's Park, but most of them are coming in from New Mossley, Ballyduff and other places and causing the trouble.
"They get their carryouts and drink in the alleyways around the estate and then just go round doing whatever they like. It's been going on for months and the residents have had enough. It's got to stop."
The man, who didn't want to be identified, warned that some residents are now contemplating starting up a vigilante-style mob to patrol the estate at weekends.
"We're fed up with it. The police don't seem to want to know, the paramilitaries don't want to know about it, so the residents have got together and are going to do something about it ourselves," he said.
PSNI Sector Inspector Julie Blain said that local police have built up a positive relationship with the community in Queen's Park, working in partnership with the local Residents' Association and other partners such as the Housing Executive and Newtownabbey Council.
She stressed that there has been no obvious increase in the number of complaints made to police in recent weeks, but urged anyone experiencing problems with anti-social youths to contact their local Neighbourhood Policing Team on 9025 9393 or 9025 9397.
"Anti-social behaviour in whatever form will not be tolerated by the police and our community and all incidents of such must be reported to police so the persons responsible can be apprehended and dealt with.
"I appeal for any resident being affected by this type of behaviour to contact their local Neighbourhood Officers so this problem can be immediately and robustly addressed by police," the Inspector said.
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