Is it just us, or do the police appear to be getting slightly desperate in their bid to tackle Worcestershire's yob problem?

The latest wheeze is talking signs, mounted on lampposts, which blare out warnings to anyone who passes by that anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated.

You could say that anything is worth a try to combat the persistent problem of littering, vandalism and what is euphemistically called street incivility'.

But do the police really believe any self-respecting yob will refrain from breaking the law as a result of hearing a recorded message? They're more likely to scale the lampposts and rip the things down.

If the signs work, we'll be the first to congratulate the police and Wyre Forest Community Safety Partnership, who have worked together to put them up, on an innovative approach to tackling low-level crime.

But we can't help thinking that the £600 cost of each sign would be better spent on paying the wages of more police or community service officers to patrol problem areas.

However, let's not write off the signs completely.

As well as being put up in yob hotspots, they have been placed in car parks to warn law-abiding citizens to lock their vehicles and make sure their valuables are safe from lurking pickpockets.

This could actually work. In this case, the signs are providing people with useful information they can actually act on, and could genuinely play a role in reducing crime.

But we fear it will take more than talking signs to curb the bad behaviour of Worcestershire's youth.