Summary
It is not often Plymouth is at the forefront of a national debate about social issues, still less one which relates to one of the biggest areas of public concern in the UK today. But that is precisely where our city found itself yesterday, when the vexed subject of ultrasonic 'Mosquito' devices came under the spotlight at a city council inquiry.
These electronic boxes, which emit a high-pitched sound which only young people are said to hear, are designed to deter youngsters from congregating in specific areas. Supporters claim they are an ideal way to prevent teenagers from hanging around outside places such as shops, stores, private homes and schools out of hours. They also maintain they only affect the 'target audience' - in other words, people aged under 24, whose hearing is still sensitive enough to pick up on the frequency emitted by the devices. But opponents, including some big hitters in the world of civil liberties and the Children's Commissioner for England no less, have a very different view. They maintain these devices are indiscriminate, affect babies and young children as well as teenagers and those in their early twenties and, perhaps most pertinently, do not solve bad behaviour but instead merely move it on to another location. The inquiry was also told they could be particularly distressing for autistic children. Such is the depth of feeling involving the principle of using these, the Children's Commissioner, Sir Al Aynsley-Green, made a personal pilgrimage to Plymouth to argue against them. So too did James Welch, legal director of Liberty, the national human rights organisation.See the full content of this document
Extract
Tackling Root of Disaffection
We can see both sides of the argument...
See the full content of this document
Sponsored links
