Priority needed for ASB

A special report into anti-social behaviour (ASB) has identified a number of key suggestions that could help rid society of “a wicked and troubling issue”.

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) published the report on September 23, which indicated a large proportion of people suffer from high levels of intimidation, which in the past has led to “tragedies”.

The report – Anti-Social Behaviour: Stop the Rot –  revealed a significant number of victims of ASB are members of the public who suffer from illness and/or a disability.

It also revealed that despite the high profile of ASB in recent years, it does not have the same status as ‘crime’ for the police and there are consequences to this.

Sir Denis O’Connor, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary, said: “It’s a widespread issue, a very pernicious element to it, if you look at the way it affects the way we live, that’s a critical, critical graphic.

“We should be very concerned about that because the more personalised it becomes the more dangerous it becomes. And unfortunately in some circumstances the results have been very tragic and there have been a number of near misses too.”

It has also been revealed that out of 43 forces, only 22 have IT systems that help them to identify and prioritise repeat calls, at the time of the report being made, and just 16 forces can effectively identify vulnerability.

This falls to only 13 forces which can effectively identify those most at risk which leads to uncertainty of just what priority ASB should or could be given by police forces.

Sir Denis also emphasised that “boots” must be on the ground if the problem is to be tackled effectively, despite the financial challenges that lie ahead.

He added: “We have already released a report indicating how you could, if you are willing to change a lot of things, achieve up to 12 per cent efficiency, there are things to be done.”

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