I understand that the Tesco manager from the Street store in Crispin shopping precinct informed the parish council last Thursday that his headquarters had seriously suggested installing an electronic mosquito device for deterring youths who have been causing trouble outside the Tesco store.

Our local police have been patrolling this area for months now and would welcome more help from Tesco but have they been consulted as to whether this is the best way forward?

Surely this is an knee-jerk reaction to a situation that has been in existence for more than 15 months now and to which Tesco has taken too little action to either protect its staff or customers.

The electronic device costs about £500 which is the same figure that police have been asking Tesco to spend on improving its CCTV.

Tesco kept saying it could not afford it. They have just reported profits of £3.1bn.

These kind of devices are designed to be used in out of the way areas to protect property to which people only go to cause damage and not in a well-used public area. I believe these devices cause distress to young people under 25 and will therefore be affecting young children and babies out shopping with their parents as well as shop workers (including Tesco's own) and should therefore not be allowed indiscriminately.

Surely this is sending the wrong message to young people and it assumes that all are prospective trouble makers which is not true and as can been seen in the paper many of those found causing problems have come from outside Street.

Wouldn't Tesco be better advised to spend the money on updating their CCTV cameras, improving training for their security guards and installing a camera in the problem area so that those guilty of causing trouble can be identified?

Maureen Davis

Street