An absolute disgrace. The law is well and truly on the criminals side these days. Youths can get away with anything, safe in the knowledge the law cannot touch them. I witnessed an assault today and for once I won't be making a statement as it won't make any difference to the outcome and I will only put myself at risk!

"An absolute disgrace"
I have to agree whats the point of us paying our taxes for the police,if local yobs can get away with the crimes they are commiting...
Soon local residents will take the law into their own hands...

I watched New York drift from a pleasant city to a hell hole in just 20 years; England is now going the same way and for the same reason. The reason is highlighted by this story--the police don't bother with youths much and prefer driving around in squad cars chasing big crimes. And youths soon learn they can get away with more and more(nuisance behaviour turns to vandalism turns to theft etc)Eventually THEY go on to big crimes and a new criminal class is born and it IS the fault of the police for not grabbing these kids AND their parents at the earliest possible stage and make a big deal of petty crime. MOST kids get the message and behave. This is called zero tolerance. It is also better for the kids because if they are left to drift until they get a custodial sentence, they are then in for a lifetime of criminality. Prison is the crooks university. Sadly the English(including the police) do not understand the phrase Zero Tolerance. It MEANS you target the petty crimes of the 11-16 year olds. This policy turned New York around again in about 10 years. Sussex Police: start now; believe me it will get a lot worse. Oh, and the chief constable of Sussex? He needs to be sacked and now. Good luck people..

While most kids in Crawley are OK (as far as kids can ever be!) it's the little thugs with no parental control that make this town so depressing to live in. Why are the police so afraid to deal with yobs? Why was Mr McCourt arrested in the first place? According to the BBC it was one of the mothers who called the police and told them her charming little thug of a son had been kidnapped - what's the betting junior is getting toys and presents to help him get over his ordeal? She must be sooooo proud. I dispair of the chav element, I really do.

I thought that Sussex Police were more respnsible nowadays after the bad press they had with a previous Chief Constable, but, they appear to be like the rest of the police in the south east of England. Now thought to the victims. They pay lip service only to most victims of crime. This victim should be rewarded for what he did. Doing the job of the, in most cases, young inexperianced Police Officers who has to comply with league tables set by their senior officers who themselves in most cases have only got where they are because they have been behind a desk out of harms way for most of their service. Its a sad reflection not on society, but on those in authority who are there to uphold law and order

The tax payer funds the police, the police spend this "chasing" criminals who steal off the tax payer, making the tax payer the victim twice over. It's a vicious circle which is only getting worse.

It is a sad reflection on our town that this story has been widely aired in the quality broadsheets. And we shouldn’t expect anything better in a town that has spent hundred of thousands of pounds cleaning up the mess from illegal traveller camps without any prosecution, and yet attempts to prosecute a teenage girl from a decent family who foolishly dropped a chocolate wrapper. One person on this page has suggested we get rid of the chief constable. Well, I can only congratulate our MP for sorting out this mess. And if she can indeed get rid of the chief constable, and a few of our over-paid top officials at the same time, then she can have my vote at the next election.