They claim that the group can have up to 60 people parked in Vincent Street at the one time and litter the streets, do burnouts, drive on the wrong side of the road, destruct property, vandalise and even urinate on store fronts.

One businessman, Ross Crump said this issue has gone beyond loitering and petty crime, after his staff found a ball bearing that had pierced through a window last Wednesday morning.

Mr Crump said the issue has turned from malicious damage to life-threatening damage, as the two objects penetrated a plate glass window and flew tens of metres into the building – luckily at a time that staff were not present.

The incident was reported to Cessnock Police Station, who referred Mr. Crump to the Police Assistance Line.

Mr. Crump then went down and personally reported the incident to police, but officers have yet to go out to his business and see the destruction first-hand.

“There is a clear escalation of danger,” Mr Crump said.

“There is someone out there carrying those kinds of weapons, intent on doing damage.”

Mr. Crump is concerned for the safety of not only his staff but of the general public, who use ATMs after hours and take night-time walks.

“What’s to stop them doing it to a person?”

“The malicious damage has gone too far, the threat to the public has gone too far.”

“No person should be subjected to that,” he said.

Another business owner, Ryan Wilson, said the street is constantly strewn with rubbish and quite often broken glass, and that the young people intimidate members of the public.

“It’s not innocent fun, they’re making the area dangerous,” he said.

Not only are the business operators expressing fear for safety, they believe this behaviour will have a negative effect on tourism in Cessnock, the town recently named the sixth best travel destination in Australia by TripAdvisor.

Others have suggested more regular police patrols of the street, or street surveillance cameras as a last resort.

Many business operators have said they just want the issue resolved, before the worst happens.

Several mentioned that they believe the youths are attracted by the council’s free wi-fi that is available in the main street and have suggested shutting it off outside of business hours.

In response, Cessnock City Council general manager Stephen Glen said a review is underway to restrict the hours of wi-fi access in the CBD following a request from local police.

Mr. Glen said council applied for $262,645 of funding under the National Crime Prevention Fund in 2013, but was unsuccessful.

“CCTV was within the scope of this grant application,” he said.

“We will be seeking further federal or state funding opportunities for crime prevention measures if and when they arise.”

Mr. Glen said council is aware of issues of vandalism to public property, rubbish dumping and illegal car activity in the Cessnock CBD and have reported the matters to local police.

“Council rangers regularly patrol the CBD as an added measure for safety in the area,” he said.

Inspector Glenn Blain said Cessnock Police has received contact from Clayton Barr, Cessnock Council and members of the public regarding the anti-social behaviour in Vincent Street.

He said that there has recently been an increase in the amount of high-visibility patrols in vehicles and on foot.

Inspector Blain also pointed out that in one night last week there was one infringement notice issued for a burnout as well as 25 move-on directions.

“And that’s going to continue,” he said.

In response to these actions by police, businesses are glad to see that action has started to be taken.

“At least now with all of the people getting involved we’re seeing things get done,” Mr. Wilson said.

BARR: 'REPORT, REPORT, REPORT'

State Member for Cessnock Clayton Barr has received four formal reports of anti-social behaviour occurring at night in the main street and several informal complaints as well.

He said that although restricting wi-fi may need to be done, it is a shame that the rest of the community will have to miss out as well.

Mr. Barr said Vincent Street is a State road, which means highway patrols can patrol the area.

He has asked for more local police presence where possible as well as additional highway patrol resources.

“We’ve put in those requests and we’re hoping for some results.”

He encourages anyone who observes anti-social behaviour to ‘report, report, report’ it to the local police or Crimestoppers.

Mr. Barr said that police now do ‘intelligent policing’; meaning patrols are allocated to hot spot areas.

“If you want police to patrol, you’ve got to report that it’s a hot spot.”

In regards to the destruction of property, Mr. Barr said this is a ‘significantly different crime.’

“I don’t think it’s all in the same bucket,” he said.

He said this has raised lots of discussions about possible CCTV footage, and believes it is also important for the community to converse about this problem.

“We want less of that in our community; we all have a responsibility to make that clear.”

In late 2014, Mr. Barr had the sign outside his office damaged; he highlighted that ‘our taxes pay for a new sign.’

Mr. Barr also mentioned that in the destruction of property, there will be more insurance claims meaning insurance premiums will go up.