Creswick residents and councillors alike have voiced their concern following an incident on Saturday night which has left a local police sergeant in hospital.
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The male officer was taken to Ballarat Base Hospital on Saturday just after 8pm after breaking his leg while trying to arrest a teenage boy.
Creswick councillor Don Henderson said the shire is "at its wits' end," in trying to deal with the issue of problem children within the community.
"Some of these kids don't go to school, they just wander the streets all day and half the night," he said.
"The schools are at their wits' end, the police are at their wits' end and the shire is at its wits' end on how to deal with them," he said.
Cr Henderson added while the police are doing the best they can in dealing with the roaming teens, some residents may be scared to report crimes.
"The local police are doing the best they can... they can have trouble getting the right information at times.
"If I see kids causing trouble, I report it, but a lot of people don't want to get involved... they say "it's for someone else to do because we don't want them to know it came from us." There's a sense of fear within the community."
Police were first called to reports of report of youths graffitiing a shop in Creswick, just before 8.30pm on Saturday evening.
Upon arriving at the scene, police located three teens in a Bridge Street park, which had also been graffitied and approached them.
"A struggle between the sergeant and one of the teens ensued and they both fell to the ground," Victoria Police said in a statement.
"The struggle continued with one of the other teenagers also getting involved before OC (capsicum) spray was deployed."
Two bystanders, who were in the area, came to the officer's aid, helping arrest one of the boys.
A 14-year-old boy was arrested at the scene.
He has since been charged with affray and assaulting police. He has been bailed to appear at a children's court at a later date.
Police also arrested a 16-year-old boy earlier on Monday.
As of Monday the sergeant remained in hospital.
Residents who live close to the scene of the incident told The Courier they were fed up with the amount of trouble being caused by groups of young people in Creswick.
"It's becoming more and more like Ballarat everyday," one man said.
With the amount of trouble that goes on around here it's not really a quiet little town anymore.
- A Creswick resident.
The man said he was shocked to see the police response on Saturday evening, saying the incident escalated very quickly.
"We heard a bit of a ruckus going on at the park but when we looked over it was just a bunch of kids eating fish and chips.
"When I looked back 10 minutes later there were police everywhere... we didn't know what was happening."
Another woman echoed these sentiments, adding some responsibility has to fall on the parents to keep their kids out of trouble.
"They're often just walking around town, it makes you think where are the parents and how have these children been brought up," she said.
"I wouldn't say it's scary yet because these kids are so young, however it can be a bit of a cause for concern."
Another resident said the scene of the incident was a very high-traffic area, both for kids and travelers.
"People come in and out of the park all the time, especially people passing through town, so it's not ideal to have something like this happen... something really needs to be done going forward."
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