IT is easy to understand the frustrations of police trying to stop young people on motorbikes tearing down a footpath illegally.

There is only so much you can do when confronted with an issue like this.

If these youths are constantly going down there and causing damage, and the police cannot get down the footpath to chase them, what can they do?

Police are stretched thin coping with crime and anti-social behaviour as it is, so calling for more officers, only works if manpower is diverted from somewhere else.

The issue of why anti-social behaviour occurs is a much deeper issue with no easy solution.

Changing the speed limit on the stretch of road near the footpath is about the only thing the council and police can do.

It won't stop people from riding illegally in the area, but it is worth a shot.

To a lot of people, police officers saying "We will never catch them" would sound defeatist, but really, what more can they do?

Catch the ones they can catch, and hope that it puts off the others.