NOSThe police at the town hall in Velsen
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 12:55
A group of young people are making the neighborhood unsafe in the Haarlem and Velsen area. This leads to fear among residents and certainly among young people. This includes robberies, chases, intimidation, shouting nasty things and aggression, people in the area told NOS.
According to Mayor Frank Dales van Velsen, this concerns about forty children between the ages of 11 and 16, who go out in varying groups. “Some are perpetrators, some are victims. Sometimes they are victims first and then become perpetrators later, because they are also forced to join in with the rest of the group.”
The young people travel on fat bikes, electric bicycles with fat tires. This makes them a lot more difficult to catch. “If they threaten young people and the police come, they are gone in no time. That makes it very difficult to catch them and identify them,” says Dales.
Random victims
The police see that there is more nuisance from young people in the municipalities of Bloemendaal, Haarlem and Velsen this year than in other years. “We received reports of nuisance, but sometimes also of intimidation, destruction or violence,” says a spokesperson.
Still Sunday destroyed young people with a fat bike enter the sliding doors of a supermarket in the Schalkwijk district of Haarlem. Surveillance images from the store show two boys on such a bicycle ramming the sliding animals and then entering the store. Then a fat bike drives into the store.
According to NH News Children at a primary school in Bennebroek no longer dare to play outside because intimidating young people hang around on fat bikes. The school director has issued a cry for help to the police and the municipality.
According to Mayor Dales, victims are selected at random. “They are threatened: pay me money or you will be beaten up,” says Dales. “When such a child comes home, he sees a photo of his front door on his cell phone, with the message: we know where you live. And then another photo of football training.”
‘Parents are scared shitless’
The problem has been going on for some time. In Velsen they have known about it since January. In the meantime, children have already been arrested and discussions have taken place with parents. “Parents were shocked,” says the mayor. “But I need the parents to help us and to help the children.”
Arrests have already been made. Dales is confident that he can “smash it” by working very intensively on the subject. “We have done that with other youth groups as well.” The police say they are mapping the young people and thus removing them from anonymity. “This has a deterrent effect, making them less likely to cause a nuisance.”
2023-10-05 10:55:35
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