Dog poo vigilantes - is this the way forward?

THE big story in Eastbourne this week has been dog poo vigilantes - well that, and the fairly amusing yarn of our newspaper sales manager who accidentally dropped his keys between a crack in the lift door and down the lift shaft of our office building; this was definitely a classic case of schadenfreude!

In newspaper terms, you can have murders splashed across the front page, clever investigations into abuse of power and sometimes heart-rending stories of people battling with terminal medical conditions, but when it comes to getting a reaction from readers then dog poo wins every time.

So the story is that in the Shinewater district of Eastbourne, locals have been getting pretty shitty about dogs fouling footpaths and their owners not clearing up the mess. In the past few weeks, blue flags have started appearing next to the poo, some of them planted just yards from a dog mess bin.

No-one knew who had placed these flags. We ran the story in the newspaper last week and put out an appeal for the dog poo vigilantes come forward. We had one "mad" woman who rang up on Monday claiming to be the mysterious crusader, but she was clearly off her rocker.

And then in midweek, one of our village correspondents who writes a weekly column about the goings-on in his community - Rotary and WI meetings, garden shows and schools news, good old run-of-the-mill noticeboard items - got in touch. He knew who the vigilantes were, but he wouldn't give us their phone number since the two ladies only wanted to deal with him.

He would take photographs, write the story and he wanted an appropriately big byline. We had an interesting exchange of views when I thanked him for his diligence in finding the vigilantes, told him to let me have a look at his story, but there was no guarantee it would be used.

When he did send in the story 24 hours later, well it was totally poo. Much has been made about this is the age of the citizen journalist, but when it comes down to brass tacks few can really write or get down to the nub of a story. He wrote his piece of poetic prose like a super sleuth out of a Raymond Chandler detective novel.

So, we got the names, one of my reporters found one of the vigilantes who could talk to the cows come home and we got our story. And here's the link, if you're interested: www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/local-news/dog-poo-vigilantes-celebrate-success-1-4949991

Naturally there has been a lot of debate on the newspaper website, on Facebook and Twitter about the actions of the dog poo vigilantes who believe their flagging and shaming antics is working. They reckon their stance is cleaning up the area as dog owners become more responsible.

I went out for an early morning Good Friday run along Eastbourne's prom yesterday, up towards Beachy Head and there was no escaping the side-stepping of dog poo as you headed along the seafront. In the grand scheme of things, dogs messing on the pavement is miniscule, but to many it matters. It's just so bloody inconsiderate and thoughtless.

I say well done to two ladies with their blue flags. How ingenious and imaginative. It may be a symbollic gesture, but their stance was noticed and in a small way it has made a difference.