Taking the law into your own hands is a foolish thing to do. But some people feel so let down by the system that they think of their own ways of solving problems.

Corsham town and district councillor Roy Jackson said vigilantism could be the only way to solve the vandalism problems in his street.

For nearly a year teenagers have been running amok, snapping trees in two, throwing eggs, daubing graffiti on walls and smashing greenhouse windows.

Police are due to come under fire at a town council meeting on Monday because Cllr Jackson is unhappy with the way they have handled the spate of attacks in The Tynings.

Officers are planning to blow his complaints out of the water with figures which show Corsham police as having the second best criminal damage detection rate in the county.

Resource-strapped police cannot be expected to be everywhere and no housing estate would be able to have its own 24-hour officer to keep vandals away.

Vigilantism will probably antagonise the situation further, so it would be better if residents worked with the police rather than against them.

Let's hope Cllr Jackson's comment is a result of sheer frustration rather than something he strongly believes.