IT is obvious that the threat posed by gangs is a general feature in the survey out today which shows that more than a third of men and more than half of women fear walking alone at night in their own neighbourhoods.

We are not necessarily talking about gangs in an established formal sense, rather the groups of youths who gather in almost every neighbourhood in the country.

If you look at the Lliswerry incident which we have reported on in recent days, the majority of people who contacted us have expressed concerns about gangs gathering on our streets.

They want to see the groups broken up and dispersal orders used much more widely.

Women of course also fear the lone attacker for obvious reasons.

But the significant threat felt by most people is caused by groups of youths, who for no apparent reason will turn on someone and carry out violent attacks as witnessed in several high profile cases across the country recently.

What people want is to see these gangs broken up.

We realise this will tar all youths with the same brush but people are frightened.

If youths want to meet they they should meet in each other's homes and let the various sets of parents put up with them.

The rest of the public don't want them on the streets.

Elderly people, who did not really feature in this most recent survey, are an almost invisible presence.

Many simply do not go out at night because they are afraid and that is a terrible indictment of our society.