'Pathetic pigs': Yobs cover new police house in Page Hall with offensive graffiti

Red pen has been used to daub ‘pathetic pigs’ over the door of the police house on Robey Street, Page Hall.

LATEST: South Yorkshire Police respond to over 250 Covid breaches on New Year’s Eve

A team of officers moved into the troubled area in October and last month an empty house was turned into a community police base.

Page Hall is plagued by a number of problems including anti-social behaviour groups congregating in the streets at all times of the day and night, fly-tipping, drugs and prostitution.

CRIME: Children among victims of Page Hall’s latest mass brawl

There have also been a number of mass brawls, with shocking footage shared on social media.

Police have been called to two such incidents over recent days, with one breaking out just after midnight on New Year’s Day and another last night.

In the New Year’s Day disturbance on Willoughby Street, South Yorkshire Police said officers found ‘people with weapons fighting in the street’.A 37-year-old man suffered injuries to his wrists, a 12-year-old girl was found unconscious and a three year-old girl was also hurt. Five men, all in their twenties, were arrested and bailed pending further enquiries.

One man who witnessed the violence said: “I witnessed what I can only describe as a full scale riot. Folk were fighting with poles, golf clubs and anything they could get their hands on, it was totally out of control with over 100 brawling and swinging weapons and several vehicles on the street were damaged.

“Carnage, chaos, call it what you like - if animals behaved like that they'd be shot.”

He said during the mayhem boxes of fireworks were also set off in the middle of the street.

Launching the new police team in Page Hall, South Yorkshire Police said its aim is to ‘focus on longer-term problem solving in relation to crime and anti-social behaviour’.

Sergeant Tony Cartlidge said his priority is making sure officers are visible.

“For me, the most important thing is having my officers out there, on the streets, in people’s faces. It’s about spending as much time as a shift allows, speaking to people, stopping vehicles and using enforcement where necessary,” he said.

“I am ensuring the team spend as much time on the beat as possible and getting to know their community; that is where the greatest gains can be made.

“If people see officers seizing cars and vans, knocking on doors – behaviour changes, there’s a consequence, not just a police vehicle driving through.”

In three months the team seized over 50 vehicles, issued 133 traffic offence reports, stopped and searched over 100 individuals suspected of being involved in criminal activity and carried out three drug raids.

Sgt Cartlidge added: “Page Hall is a challenging place to police, it’s a really diverse community with lots of different groups of people all living alongside each other.

“In the past, there have been issues with people supporting the police and working with us. Over the last few months we have started to receive intelligence from within the community which has rarely happened before.

“When we started, people wouldn’t speak to us, now they approach us and want to talk about what we’re doing. That might seem like a small thing, but it ultimately means we can make things better.”