HUNDREDS of people called police during wintry weather – to complain about snowballs being thrown.
Huddersfield South Neighbourhood Policing Team received 1,100 reports of anti-social behaviour from the eight weeks after December 15.
That figure was up 15% on the previous eight weeks and, at current rates, will be 19% higher than the subsequent eight weeks.
Officers believe the rise, during a period that saw the town blanketed in snow, can be accounted for by the number of calls to do with people throwing snowballs.
More than 200 complaints are thought to have been from ‘victims’ of snowball attacks.
Sgt John McFadzean – from the NPT which covers Newsome, Crosland Moor, Netherton, Almondbury and Dalton – said: “Whether someone should call the police or not totally depends on the situation.
“If an elderly person is having snowballs thrown at their house for no reason, that is totally unacceptable. But if it’s just kids larking about it’s a bit extreme to call the police.”
Clr Molly Walton, for Crosland Moor and Netherton, said it was not clear from the figures how serious the incidents were.
She said: “If it’s about people who are trying to break someone’s windows , then fair enough.
“But what child hasn’t had a snowball fight at some point? You’ll always get someone who will take a game too far and maybe put stones in a snowball, but are we going to make throwing snowballs a crime?
“I don’t like getting hit with snowballs but it’s about a balance.”
But Victim Support, the national charity for crime victims, said it was wrong to generalise.
But, Victim Support’s Paul Fawcett said: “One person’s idea of a bit of fun can be someone else’s idea of anti-social behaviour.”
“We have to keep an open mind and be sensitive to how each individual reacts to certain types of behaviour. Just because you or I might not find something upsetting, that’s not to say that no-one else will.”
