Wii can work it out
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Neighbourhood wardens are using Wii video games to curb anti-social behaviour - and everyone’s a winner,
as Caroline Thorpe finds out
Hands up if you think video games are anti-social? Kids hunched behind consoles, slaves to the screen, enveloped by whatever fantasy world is playing out before them, oblivious to the real world and the people in it.
Time for a rethink. In Lincolnshire, neighbourhood safety wardens have a new tool to tackle anti-social behaviour. And it comes in a video console box.
Not any old console, mind you – this one can pit multiple players against each other in games which require participants to move about physically. The Nintendo Wii has contributed to an astonishing 75 per cent drop in anti-social behaviour on one Grimsby estate, according to the officer who introduced it to the local community centre there.
‘It’s extremely good for all ages,’ says Tony Burman, senior warden with North East Lincolnshire Council’s neighbourhood safety team.
It was Mr Burman who, about a year ago, decided to see what effect the Wiis might have on improving the behaviour of young people. ‘We held a Sunday afternoon event at the Grange Estate in Grimsby. It’s quite a rough estate and they’ve had problems with anti-social behaviour,’ he says, listing underage drinking and ‘kids hanging about on street corners’ as common misdemeanours.
‘They have a very, very good community centre. We took the Wiis along [to it] and 64 young people and their parents came as well. Now the community centre has bought its own [Wiis] and anti-social behaviour has dropped [75 per cent].’
Housing association Shoreline Housing Partnership, which owns and manages most of the estate’s homes, has since funded a number of Wii events at the centre. Shoreline regeneration officer Christina Letter says it has revitalised the previously underused facility, as well as improved community relations.
‘The events have broken down barriers with residents, the police, community wardens and police community service officers,’ she says. ‘They’ve brought entire families to the centre for the first time… The centre has really opened up and become the central focus of this community.’
Crucially, the consoles attract the estate’s notoriously ‘hard-to-reach’ younger age group, she adds. ‘Not only have we seen anti-social behaviour in the neighbourhood decrease, but the events have been a the catalyst for young people to get involved in other physical activities which are socially cohesive and beneficial to their health.’ For example, the estate now offers a popular football scheme, says Mr Burman.
But why is the Wii such a hit? And why is it slashing anti-social behaviour? First of all, it uses up energy that might otherwise be directed towards more irksome pursuits. ‘You’re not sat down [while playing it]. You’re on the go, you’re doing a physical thing as well,’ explains Mr Burman.
And because players are typically pitted against at least one other (real) person from the community, relationships more usually prone to animosity can benefit from newfound respect.
‘The kids are working together,’ says Mr Burman, who also takes the Wii into local schools as well as to the tenants of other social landlords including Havelock Homes and Northern Counties Housing Association.
‘They may be working together with people they don’t really like. I’ll give you an example. There was this really big lad in year six [10 to 11-yearolds], who is nearly six foot, and then this much smaller lad. They did the boxing game. In real life, the big lad would have nailed him. But on the game, the smaller lad won.’
The result was an unlikely friendship between two children whose unhappy relationship had caused disruptive behaviour previously. Similarly, children who are good at real-life sports, may not excel at the Wii version and vice versa, adds the warden. ‘The kids who are good at it will help the others. It’s building relationships where they might not have bothered to speak to the other person before.’
Relationships between communities and the authorities are also improving, a further dampener to anti-social activities. ‘What’s happened now is that the general public say, “we can speak to these wardens”,’ says Mr Burnham.
As well as support from Shoreline, the council’s Wii efforts have been boosted by discounts from Nintendo, the company which manufactures Wii. And earlier this year a software company donated a pre-release version of its latest game – Emergency Mayhem. In it, gamers pick a character from the emergency services to play – useful for trying to help children understand the consequences of unruly behaviour.
But what Mr Burnham would really like, he says, would be ‘someone to do a whole anti-social behaviour game we could use’.
‘I’m always looking for new things,’ he says. ‘Wii is working at the moment; next year it might be something else. I’ve got quite a good imagination – even at 50 plus.’
Good catch
North East Lincolnshire Council may be turning to the latest technology to help curb anti-social behaviour on its patch (see main article). But, along with local social landlords, it is also trying a more traditional pursuit: fishing.
Since May 2007, team leader Mark Fenty has run the Get Hooked on Fishing programme for the council, in partnership with others, including the Environment Agency. He says teaching young people how to angle is ‘a proven way’ of cutting anti-social behaviour and crime. The national GHOF scheme was set up by a Durham police officer in 2000 to engage young people in danger of social exclusion, and has grown since.
So far, about 400 eight- to 19-yearolds in North East Lincolnshire have benefited from the scheme. ‘We don’t just teach fishing,’ says Mr Fenty. ‘It’s very much about environmental areas and the youngsters appreciating their settings. We also talk to them about their own personal problems and they respond quite brilliantly.
‘We’ve now ended up with five or six peer mentors. They came through the programme and now they’re teaching others. It’s a great way to get the youngsters to respond.’
Mr Fenty reckons fishing succeeds in calming anti-social behaviour and feelings of exclusion because ‘some youngsters really are looking for something to do’. Angling equipment is, he says, relatively cheap compared with other sports and it’s something kids can continue enjoying for themselves once they’ve had some initial instruction.
It also caters for children who may feel the need to be alone. ‘A lot of the kids that have problems like to isolate themselves. [Through fishing] they can enjoy themselves without getting into bother. They can start by going on their own, and then eventually they will meet others through the sport. It really is life-long.’
The proof of the pudding? Mr Fenty cites one 12-year-old boy, already ‘the sixth most prolific [young] offender in our area’ and a daily visitor to the local police station.
Since GHOF is designed to be preventative, and not for those already involved with the justice system, Mr Fenty agreed to take the young man fishing on condition that he stayed trouble-free for a month beforehand.
‘Six weeks later… he came along. He had a terrific day and caught lots of fish – some big, some small.’ Mr Fenty told him he was among the top 10 young anglers who had been on the scheme.
Some time later, Mr Fenty felt a tug on his shirt while visiting the council offices. It was the same boy, asking ‘when are we going fishing again?’, anxious for another go. ‘His counsellor has reported that he has made good progress and had not been in trouble since [he went fishing],’ says Mr Fenty. ‘ Now, it’s not due to the fishing [alone]… but it did start something.
