Young people want police to interact more

The Charity Crime Concern sent questionnaires to schools and police stations in Barnet, north London.

The survey found 86% of youngsters have a negative attitude towards police and 61% of police have a bad opinion of young people.

Youngsters are due to meet the borough commander of Barnet on Wednesday to discuss the issue.

The survey was commissioned by Barnet Action 4 Youth, a crime reduction project, which is run by Crime Concern.

We now need to tackle why there are these negative attitudes and start changing them Ch Supt Mark Ricketts

It found that young people wanted the police to interact more, have a more positive and friendly attitude and for them to listen.

Barnet Action 4 Youth Project Manager, Alison Kira, said: "We conducted the survey because we needed to find out whether young people's perceptions of the poor relationships between young people and the police were true.

"The survey's findings have shown that they are.

"We now need to tackle why there are these negative attitudes and start changing them."

At Wednesday's meeting, youngsters will be discussing with Ch Supt Mark Ricketts, why they felt intimidated by the police.

He said: "We are working hard to encourage positive relations between police and young people, to inform young people of laws that concern them.