THE makers of a device to stop anti-social behaviour has poured scorn on a council which has ordered its removal from Earby School.

The Mosquito emits an annoying high pitched whine which cannot be heard by people over the age of about 25. When installed at Earby School it had resulted in a significant decrease in incidences of vandalism and youths climbing on the school roof.

But Lancashire County Council has ordered its removal, saying it is discriminatory against youths and could infringe their human rights.

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Si Morris, commercial director of CSS Ltd, said that since launching the Mosquito in January 2006 his company had spent approximately £60,000 on the best professional UK specialists to establish if there were any environmental, health and safety, medical, legal or human rights issues relating to the use of the mosquito.

"In each and every instance, there are no concerns whatsoever. All this information can be provided to anyone at any time and much is posted on the company website," he said.

"The Mosquito is not a discriminatory device. CSS strongly advises all its customers that the Mosquito should only be used when a group of teenagers gathered together are causing a problem, acting in an antisocial manner or infringing the human rights of other people to go about their business in peace."

He pointed out that the Mosquito is not operational 24 hours a day. Additionally, the device takes 5 - 10 minutes to become annoying and turns itself off after 20 minutes. The area covered by the sound is only 15 meters and therefore, an individual can walk right through the field of coverage in about five seconds, so it will not even annoy people passing by, only those hanging around "I would argue that Ms. Harding's comment, about the use of the device sending out the wrong message of how the council views children, is incorrect," said Mr Morris. "In fact it sends the correct message. The message is this: 'If you are well behaved, that's great. If you cause problems and refuse to act in a responsible and society friendly manner, we will take action'.

"Ms. Harding also states that the devices are crude. Has Ms Harding ever actually heard one? What is crude is sending police officers to disperse a group of teenagers, costing £300 per incident. What is crude is the poor shop keeper or staff having to repeatedly ask such kids to behave or to move away from the shop entrance and being verbally and in some cases physically assaulted.

"The Mosquito is quiet and benign. It is not painful or sudden. It is as its name implies, like an insect buzzing around your head. Once or twice, well ok but after 5 - 10 minutes it starts to annoy you. In this case, the only solution is to move away.

"Whilst we agree that the Mosquito does not solve the problem and does displace such antisocial gatherings, feedback suggests that the subsequent gatherings involve more, smaller groups, which in turn are less of a problem.

"With regard to the school that has been ordered to remove their Mosquito from the school roof, we have this to say. The school is council property and there should be no kids there outside school hours.

"This presupposes that any kids there then are trespassing. Surely if these kids are trespassing, the use of the Mosquito in a confined area CANNOT be indiscriminate?

"CSS Ltd would like to ask if Ms. Harding or the council are going to take responsibility not only for the damage to the school that will no doubt increase once again since the Mosquito stopped the problem, but also for the financial implications when a child falls from this roof and either seriously injures or kills themselves? Just so people know where to send the legal papers."