'Film me all you want' - teenage girls with no fear of police torment one High Street

Here is the corrected version in British English:

The teenager's sense of invincibility is clear. "You can film me all you want," she tells the officer. "The cops are never going to help you."

She is refusing to leave a shop that has been caught in a long line of antisocial activity – windows smashed, jewellery stolen, fires started, and employees assaulted. The owner of the mobile phone shop in Shirley, near Southampton, Muhammad Usman, has been threatened and assaulted himself. He is filming her on his own phone, and her juvenile bravado is in full swing. She warns him, "Touch me and I'll get you arrested for assault."

"It's getting worse, day by day," Muhammad later tells us from behind his till. His voice cracks, his speech slowed by months of abuse, which, he claims, included an attempt on his life by a teenager. "I've never had this kind of experience in my life before. We're feeling so helpless."

What Muhammad and other shopkeepers have seen over recent months illustrates the challenge that antisocial behaviour poses to police, councils, and communities at a time when the government has stated that combating it is a top priority. Three doors down, on the same High Street, Nnenna Okonkwo is also feeling under siege. "It's ridiculous that it's just a couple of teenagers who cause this mayhem," she says through tears.

However, these do not appear to be hooded gangsters armed with weapons. When I eventually encountered the group, I was confronted with a 14-year-old girl in pink leggings and Crocs.

"I'm not pretending to be innocent, because I'm not," she says. "I've assaulted people and I've struck people, so I'll admit to it."

"You get into one bit of trouble with the police, you fall in too deep and you can't get out," she says. She claims an injury compelled her to quit sports, and that behaving badly provides an alternative outlet for her energy. "I discovered that I get the same adrenaline rush from getting into dangerous situations with the police and from going missing."

But there is little remorse. "I regret what I do, but I don't say sorry," she says, as the rest of the group applauds. She seems bright but deeply troubled. When we chat, she admits to drinking and vaping. Muhammad had already told us that he had suffered racial abuse, an accusation the girl denies any involvement in.

One of her friends chimes in. "I know what we're doing is wrong, but we have a bit of fun," she says. "I'm sorry for the majority of those people we've hurt, but I have no regrets; it's just one way of venting my rage."

Last year, Labour promised new "respect orders" to exclude similarly persistent offenders from town centres. Under the Crime and Policing Bill currently in Parliament, breaking these orders would result in a criminal conviction with potential penalties including a two-year prison term, unlimited fines, or unpaid community service. That would partially replace existing civil injunction powers. However, the respect orders would not extend to children under the age of 18. An amendment aims to lower this to 16, but it would still not cover the youngest offenders.

Ministers have also promised more neighbourhood policing. In Shirley, Muhammad's complaint is not about the number of police officers, but rather their apparent inability or unwillingness to deal with the teenagers. "You don't see any action against them," he says. "You feel they are above the law."

'We need to be more robust'

PC Tom Byrne, the local beat officer, acknowledges the perception that antisocial activity is not being dealt with effectively. He told BBC News in July that while "there will be consequences," these need to be handled carefully when it comes to children. Such instincts to divert young people from the criminal justice system are deeply embedded in policing, perhaps in the hope that this antisocial behaviour is a phase they will grow out of.

Nonetheless, the issue got worse over the long, hot summer of 2025. Behaviour like this is not limited to one High Street, nor is it limited to teenagers. Neil Gibson, from Portsmouth on the south coast, knows the price of repeated antisocial activity. He says his car repair company has been repeatedly attacked by the same group of young men. One security camera video shows a hooded youth repeatedly striking a windscreen with a broom until it smashes. Neil now spends some evenings at his business, watching over his premises via security cameras.

"I did phone [the police] and say, 'If you send someone right now, you'll catch them.'" Disheartened, he says he no longer reports every incident.

In nearby Fratton, a former industrial part of Portsmouth that is now mainly residential, we see what the police are up against. PC Chris Middleton attempts to stop a young man from speeding down a footpath on an electric scooter, but the masked figure simply ignores the constable and zips away. We ask PC Middleton if he can understand why some people believe the police are powerless. "Yeah, I feel it," he says. "I often think that we need to be more robust and that we require more support from the government to tackle these issues."

A short while later, a convicted shoplifter who is trying to get back into prison walks past – he is searched and arrested.

It's a similar story for councils across the country, many of which are using community wardens to gather evidence of antisocial activity. "A lot of what used to be police matters is being downgraded to antisocial behaviour," Jason, a warden for Portsmouth City Council, tells us, which increases his workload.

Cllr Matt Boughton, chair of the Local Government Association's Safer and Stronger Communities Board, shares a similar viewpoint, telling BBC News that councils are increasingly being asked to step in as police funds are stretched. This places more pressure on their already strained budgets, a situation he calls unsustainable. How, then, can these problems in the communities we have visited – and many others around the country – be solved?

'I regret all of it'

Donna Jones, Hampshire's Police and Crime Commissioner, is one of those whose position involves working within the wider criminal justice system. The former Conservative councillor says the police need to change how they deal with young people and their parents.

"I think the police's response, to be completely honest with you, has been to take a soft approach, but some of these young people are guilty of some really serious, violent crimes," she tells us while visiting the shopkeepers in Shirley. "A large gang of young girls is threatening them," she says. "What we also need to do is hold parents to account for some of this behaviour," she adds, "as well as changing legislation to make them more accountable."

The original antisocial behaviour order (ASBO) was replaced in 2014, and authorities now have a variety of powers, including civil injunctions, community protection notices, dispersal orders, and criminal behaviour orders. They can also fine parents and even evict families from social housing. However, many of these powers are not applicable to children, and using those that are risks criminalising a greater number of young people. These steps require time and evidence, straddle the responsibilities of the police and councils, and can have serious consequences for the often-vulnerable young people involved.

There have been arrests. A juvenile has been charged with 22 offences, including criminal assault, trespass, arson, criminal damage, breaching a dispersal order, and racially aggravated bullying. After missing an earlier hearing, the teen appeared at Southampton Youth Court last week and is expected to return next month.

Following months of persistent antisocial activity, the situation in Shirley has calmed down in recent weeks.

"For too long, people haven't seen police patrolling their streets," Policing Minister Sarah Jones told the BBC. "This government has increased police patrols in high-crime areas around the country," she said, as part of a Safer Streets Summer Initiative. "We are sending the message that crime will be punished," she said, highlighting plans for 3,000 more neighbourhood police officers by March 2026. On Thursday, the Prime Minister will announce steps to "take over boarded-up shops" and "block new gambling and vaping shops on the High Street."

Hampshire Police told us that they had "endeavoured to respond as soon as possible to reports of antisocial activity" on Shirley High Street, but "had to ensure this was balanced against the rise in emergency calls" over the summer months.

Away from the mayhem, we did find some more encouraging news. As the summer comes to an end and pupils return to school, Jaiden, 15, sits on the sofa of his Shirley home and recalls the hours he spent in a police cell after being arrested. He tells us that he was causing chaos in shops "nearly every day."

"It was fun winding people up, but then I discovered that after a while, it wasn't."

His mother, Kylie, had begged the police to intervene after she felt she had lost her son to peer pressure. "Just arrest him a few times. They can't do much because of his age; they just bring him home, and there's not much we can do."

He reads from a list of rules that he and his mum have since signed in a voluntary "acceptable behaviour agreement." They include him not stealing, making threats, or using foul or abusive language, as well as leaving shops when asked. If he complies, he can avoid court. Jaiden has promised not to return to that way of life.

"I regret all of it," he says.