Anti-social behaviour (ASB) covers a wide range of selfish and unacceptable activity that can blight the quality of community life.
Perceptions of anti-social behaviour
published in 2009 showed that a disproportionately high number of
people perceiving problems with ASB are hard pressed and live in urban
areas with higher levels of deprivation and it is in these areas that
our efforts to reduce ASB are concentrated. For example,
we encouraged partnerships to run local projects in November 2009
as part of Not in my Neighbourhood Week.
For more information on what's happening in your area go to
Anti-social Behaviour Action and
CrimeMapper.
Public confidence in local community safety agencies, including the Police,
is often based more on how effectively they handle and deal with such
behaviour than with how they deal with violent or serious acquisitive
crime.
Tackling local community safety priorities, including ASB, and increasing
public confidence is a key element of Public Service Agreement (PSA) 23
Making
Communities Safer part of the national crime
strategy. Priority Action 3 is - Tackle crime, disorder and
anti-social behaviour issues of the greatest importance in each locality,
increasing public confidence in the local agencies involved in dealing with
these issues. This is measured by public confidence in local agencies
invovlved in tackling crime and anti-social behaviour and the percentage of
people perceiving anti-social behaviour as a problem.
Other strongly related PSAs are:
- PSA 24: deliver a more effective, transparent and responsive criminal
justice system for victims and the public
- PSA 25: reduce the harm caused by alcohol and drugs.
In October 2009 a package of measures was announced to improve the
collective response to ASB. This includes:
- stepping up action on tackling ASBO (Anti-Social Behaviour Orders)
breaches
- encouraging local areas to set up and publicise minimum service
standards by March 2010
- providing more practical help to victims and witnesses of ASB
- providing targeted support and challenge to areas where more than
24 per cent of the population think anti-social behaviour is a big
problem.
We look to secure reductions in ASB and improve public confidence through
working with Community Safety Partnerships, Cleveland, Northumbria and
Durham police forces, local authorities, Criminal Justice Boards, the third
sector and other key agencies and partners to:
- reduce ASB and perceptions of ASB
- joint working with agencies involved with family support, youth
provision and alcohol and drug abuse
- setting and performance management of ASB and public confidence LAA
improvement targets
- increase public confidence in the criminal justice system.
The ASB Action website allows the public to see information on some of the
work their community safety partnership (CSP) is carrying out to
tackle ASB. It also gives all areas a better understanding of how their use
of tools and powers compares to other CRPs by allowing areas to benchmark
against CSPs of a similar size and demographic.
The ASB Actionline provides free advice for practitioners tackling and
preventing anti-social behaviour.
Telephone: 0870 220 2000
E-mail: actiononline@bss.org
