LAST year I was present at a residents' meeting regarding people who were faced with children, some of primary school age, running riot on the streets, abusing neighbours and causing vandalism.

Councillors, the police, and the housing association responsible for housing many of the area's problem families told the residents that there was little that could be done to stop this.

I took a video camera and filmed about half-an-hour of just what was going on. Four months later some stills from this footage appeared in the Bolton Evening News, along with a report, following which the council described the events as "horrendous".

A great many of the problems facing such communities are, let's be honest, created by drug abuse. Many of the children who are involved in this kind of behaviour come from a family background in which one or more parents are involved in some way in heroin abuse, and most of the burglaries and street crime are connected in some way with drugs. I know it, you know it, and our councillors know it. Not only that, but the police and public are quite often well aware of the names and addresses of the individuals using and dealing drugs at all levels.

The problem is this. If I tell the police that people are dealing drugs from the street, it isn't enough. If I tell the police that an old lady is having stones and bricks hurled at her, it isn't enough. If I take pictures of this happening, it isn't enough. But, if I video these incidents and the pictures appear in the Bolton Evening News, it suddenly becomes "horrendous".

Much could be achieved if our local authorities were prepared to use some tactical thinking, show some backbone, and apply funding. Methods used to deal with this social sickness need to be harsh and sweeping. It is true to say that, to some extent, the job of the local authorities and police can often be made more difficult by the complexities and ambiguities of the law itself, but to keep using this as an excuse is just not good enough.

About three or four years ago, a number of bars and public houses were prevented from staging strip shows, this having been achieved by invoking a law dating back to the mid-19th century. Perhaps it is time for someone at the Town Hall to wade through the statute books in search of a law to protect innocent residents by preventing these animals from dealing heroin and crack cocaine on our streets. Surely they can't find this practise less offensive than a naked woman.

There is no point in our councillors and community leaders organising meeting after meeting which just end up being PR exercises. People's lives are being ruined, and I wonder if our councillors and MPs realise the extent of this. It must be difficult to appreciate the very real problems facing people living in Johnson Fold, Halliwell, or the Haulgh, when home is a five-bedroomed, detached house in Edgworth.

A Backhouse

Blackburn Road

Bolton