‘Very, very small’ minority involved in anti-social behaviour, meeting hears
THE “MASSIVE majority” of young people in Shetland are well behaved, the chairman of the isles’ community safety and resilience board has stressed.
Allison Duncan was speaking after continued reports of anti-social behaviour in Lerwick lanes, an issue he has been very vocal on in recent years.
There have been reports of underage drinking, public urination and of young people playing “chap door run” in the Lerwick lanes, police said.
However area commander Chris Sewell said that patrols were continuing and that they were confident that the issue was “stable”.
And Duncan stressed that it was only a “very, very small” minority of people who were misbehaving.
He said that he had patrolled the Lerwick lanes last Friday and that “everything was in order”.
“We did see some young people, and they were all very well behaved,” Duncan told the community safety and resilience board’s latest meeting today (Wednesday).
Chief inspector Sewell said anti-social behaviour in the Lerwick lanes was an ongoing priority for local police, but said he was confident that they were tackling any issues.
He pointed out that incidents of anti-social behaviour, such as breach of the peace and threatening or abusive behaviour, were either on par or below their levels last year.
However public urination was up, from one incident in 2025/26 to four recorded incidents in 2026/27.
Sewell told Shetland News in September that police have to focus their attention on “higher harm areas” than anti-social behaviour.
He said though it “attracts a lot of attention”, the police were focusing on areas such as domestic abuse, sexual violence and drugs.
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The area commander stressed that Shetland has no more of an issue with anti-social behaviour than other parts of Scotland, and records lower crime figures in this area.
“I don’t think there’s any more of an issue with anti-social behaviour here than anywhere else in the country,” he said.
“In fact, I probably think we experience less, or we do experience less if you look at the figures.
“I understand the harm that anti-social behaviour causes to communities and those experiencing it, but the number of incidents in the lanes is relatively low”.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Sewell said they were likely to see even fewer incidents of anti-social behaviour in the Lerwick lanes due to the colder winter weather.
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