Tackling Antisocial behaviour 'not real police work' According to a New Report By Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary
(Article By Helen Barrett, Regen.net, 23 September 2010)
Police forces often discount tackling antisocial behaviour as 'not real police work', despite 14 million incidents occurring every year, the police standards watchdog said today.
In a report on the most effective methods for tackling antisocial behaviour, police watchdog HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) found the majority of forces do not always attend calls for help, and that police systems are not geared up to identifying repeat callers or the most vulnerable complainants.
Antisocial behaviour, which includes harassment, rowdy behaviour and vandalism, does not have the same status as "crime" for the police because it has not qualified for inclusion in crime performance statistics for 20 years, the report said.
But most people see no difference between crime and antisocial behaviour and find it immaterial that behaviour such as taunting, pestering or targeting individuals, including the most vulnerable, may not qualify technically as crimes, according to the study.
"For them, it’s just a sliding scale of grief," the report said.
Sir Dennis O’Connor, HM chief inspector of constabulary, said: "HMIC’s work provides evidence for a more ambitious strategy to turn the tide on this problem."
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he warned that cuts to policing budgets could exasperate antisocial behaviour: "I don't think this [antisocial] behaviour is going to reduce because we are going through an austerity period."
According to the report, police forces often "grade out" telephone calls from members of the public about antisocial behaviour, and leave prioritising decisions to control room operators who may be unaware of the history or the impact of the behaviour being reported.
But the report said antisocial behaviour was "not intractable" and called for a new start. It identified strategies for police forces that are proven to be effective, such as systems to identify and prioritise repeat calls at the time of the report being made and that are capable of identifying vulnerable complainants.
(Article Source: Helen Barrett, Regen.net, 23 September 2010 Website: http://www.regen.net/news/ByDiscipline/Community-Renewal/1030459/Antisocial-behaviour-not-real-police-work-say-forces/)
ASB web sources:
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ASB_Ipsos_MORI_7g8h9i_2010.pdf Size : 1.385 Kb Type : pdf |
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ASB_Cardiff_4d5e6f_2010.pdf Size : 2.052 Kb Type : pdf |
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246-Tackling Anti–Social Behaviour Report.pdf Size : 1.2 Kb Type : pdf |
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ASB_overview_1a2b3c_2010.pdf Size : 0.752 Kb Type : pdf |
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dpr26--Defining and measuring ASB.pdf Size : 0.123 Kb Type : pdf |
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horr34c--The drivers of perceptions of anti-social behaviour.pdf Size : 0.355 Kb Type : pdf |
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Millie-Anti-social-Behaviour-CONCERNS OF MINORITY AND MARGINALISED LONDONERS.pdf Size : 0.081 Kb Type : pdf |
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1460701Tackling anti-social behaviour.pdf Size : 0.256 Kb Type : pdf |
Antisocial behaviour is any aggressive, intimidating or destructive activity that damages or destroys another person's quality of life.
Types of Anti-Social Behaviour
Anti-social behaviour is virtually any intimidating or threatening activity that scares you or damages your quality of life.
Examples include:
- Using or threatening to use violence
- Intimidation
- Criminal activity including damage to property
- Noisy and rowdy behaviour
- Writing threatening abusive or insulting graffiti
- Litter and fly tipping
- Uncontrolled pets
- Using and selling drugs
- Nuisance from vehicles including parking
- Vehicle abandonment
- Domestic violence
- Racial harassment
- Homophobic harassment
- Other hate crime
- Conduct likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress
Anti-social behaviour doesn't just make life unpleasant, it has a negative effect on many people's lives and we are fully committed to tackling the problem.
Reporting anti-social behaviour
