RESIDENTS living beside a park where gangs of up to 30 youths have been gathering are too afraid to call the police for help, it was claimed at a meeting of Tranent and Elphinstone Community Council last Tuesday.

Community councillor David Thomson told police officers at the meeting that people had told him they were frightened to call the police in case it led to their homes being targeted.

He was speaking after a weekend in which a large group of youths gathered in Polson Park in the town, leading to reports of cars being vandalised and anti-social behaviour.

However, Community Inspector Andrew Harborow revealed that police had only received three calls about incidents which took place, despite the fact numerous more incidents were being highlighted on social media.

Insp Harborow said that officers were investigating after they became aware of the scale of the problems through Facebook posts.

He described the centre of Tranent as an “anti-social behaviour hotspot”, saying officers had increased patrols and brought the CCTV mobile van in, and he appealed to the public to report any crime or concerns to police directly instead of posting on social media.

However, Mr Thomson said that people were frightened by the prospect of police visiting their homes and being seen to do so by the youths.

He said: “I have been approached by people who said they were afraid to call the police in case they become targets for these youths.”

Insp Harborow insisted people could contact the police without receiving a visit to their home.

He said: “Our advice that we want to get out to everyone is that if they are concerned about bringing attention to their house, potentially they could make it an anonymous call, or give us all the information and ask us not to come to their home.”