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Search forMosquito device is 'against the law'
Tuesday, August 26, 2008, 17:29
James Welch, legal director of Liberty, told a Plymouth inquiry today that the devices were deliberately setting out to create a nuisance.
The electronic devices emit a high-pitched sound that only young people can hear. They are designed to stop children from loitering outside shops.
“Our view is that the Mosquito offends against the law on statutory nuisance,” Mr Welch said.
If anybody complained, Plymouth City Council’s environmental health department would be obliged to investigate, he told an inquiry set up by the council. Liberty would back anyone who challenged the devices in court.
The children’s champion, Sir Al Aynsley-Green, told the inquiry: “What is happening in Plymouth reflects what is happening across the country. Using these devices is a knee-jerk reaction attempting a quick-fix solution.”
He said they were indiscriminate because they targeted any young person, whether they were misbehaving or not.
And it was discrimination to use a device that could only be heard by those under 25.
“If there was some device targeted at black or old people there would be an uproar.”
Read the inquiry in full and discover what local shopkeepers say about the Mosquito in Wednesday's edition of The Herald.
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