Rampaging youths who left a trail of destruction after ”gang” battles in Fintry last week have been warned by a senior Dundee detective that they will be tracked down.
Detective Chief Inspector Shaun McKillop said officers had been working hard in the area since the incident last Thursday and were following up several ”positive lines of inquiry”.
Reports suggested up to 60 weapon-wielding children were involved in running battles on Fintry streets, some with metal poles, knives and hammers, shouting and screaming at each other.
A number of car windows were smashed in Fintry Crescent during what residents have described as a dispute between rival gangs.
DCI McKillop told The Courier: ”The net is closing in on them. We are involved in ongoing inquiries and we are confident we can identify the perpetrators and trace them.”
He revealed that since the incident officers have been carrying out home visits to several youths known to them and letting them know the message is: ”This kind of behaviour has to stop.”
He said: ”There have been no more reports of any vandalisms in the area since Thursday but we’re not resting on our laurels.
”We want to address his quickly because incidents like this increase the fear of crime, especially in the elderly.
”We have done a lot of work with the youths in Fintry. The following night we went out and visited around 30 youths and told them and their parents that this kind of behaviour won’t be tolerated.
”It was maybe not these youths but we wanted to get the message across.
”We are also working with our partners in the leisure and communities department and we want to get some new activities on in the area for the young people to get involved in.
”We need to give them something to do, people to talk to and some new activities to join in with.
”The school liaison officers also visited schools the next day and put out the message that it’s got to stop, that we’ve got additional officers out and about and we told them they should not get caught up in the crowd.”
DCI McKillop said there had also been joint patrols over the weekend with officers and community wardens ”making sure they knew we were there.”
He added: ”We’ve also got the ongoing Operation Dry-Up campaign which targets underage drinking every weekend.
”We have been telling the youths that their parents, their grandparents and their aunties and uncles live in the same area and are all affected by this kind of behaviour.
”The message is we want it to stop and we also want to give them something alternative to do.”
Last week’s incident was described by residents as a ”gang dispute” with young thugs from Whitfield and Mill O’Mains against Fintry youths. Glass in the bus stop opposite the Costcutter on Fintry Road was smashed, as were the windows of at least four cars.
The confrontation between the gangs, which saw a number of panicked residents call the police in the space of 15 minutes, had been building for a week, residents said.