BAD parents came under attack from a Furness chief constable in 1950 after a dramatic rise in the number of juveniles brought before the courts.

The annual report to Barrow council's watch committee came from Sidney Ballance, who was the borough police chief from 1944 to 1961.

His review of activity by the County Borough of Barrow-in-Furness Police was dated February 9 in 1951 and provided figures for the year ending December 31 in 1950.

There was a total of 795 crimes in the year - the highest ever recorded.

A total of 503 were solved, or 63.2 per cent.

The chief constable noted: "A disturbing feature of the year's figures is the exceptional increase in juvenile delinquency."

In 1949 a total of 48 juveniles were brought before the court but 161 in 1950.

The town's top cop had heard all the fashionable sociological ideas behind the causes of crime but had his own more straightforward view.

He said: "It would appear that the primary reason in this borough is lack of home discipline, over-indulgence in allowing their children to keep unreasonable hours and a general failure to accept their full responsibility as parents."

The force had 122 officers and just three of them were women.

During the year, 55 members of the force had taken days off sick - a total of 1,231 days in total.

Six police houses were being built in Undergreens Road, Barrow, and another six were planned in Black Butts Lane.

Barrow police had the use of just five motor vehicles:

SS Jaguar, 2.5-litre saloon, EXX 758

Wolseley, 18hp saloon, EO 9390

Wolseley, 14hp saloon, EO 8570

Austin, 10hp saloon, EO 7986

Rudge-Whitworth, 500cc motorcycle, HG 6246

The police vehicles covered a total of 52,210 miles in the year.

There were 146 legal holders of firearms and during the year officers seized or impounded a total of 278 stray dogs.

Officers or members of the public brought in 1,654 items of lost property - of which 1,093 were claimed back by the owners, or later by the people who found the items.

The year had seen 97 sudden, violent or accidental deaths and 38 of them resulted in inquests - including eight suicides and one person found drown.

Seventy men and one woman were convicted for drunkeness - up by 32 on 1949.

The town had 24 hackney carriages and all the vehicles were subject to monthly inspections.

Just £266 was paid in fines for motoring offences during the whole year.

The year saw 510 accidents of all kinds, including three deaths and 234 people suffering injuries.

Work had been completed on the Ramsden Square roundabout in May 1950 and this had seen an improvement in driving conditions for vehicles on Abbey Road and Duke Street.

The borough police also kept records for what were then termed "aliens".

It was noted: "There were 136 aliens resident in the borough, of whom the majority were polish nationals, the remainder comprising 19 different nationalities.