Anti-Social Behaviour - Problems
ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
I have called the police about
some youngsters causing a nuisance. Will the police
attend and arrest them?
Anti-social behaviour is one
of the major causes of problems in local communities
and it accounts for a huge number of calls made to
the police.
In most cases, our response
will usually not be to attend following a receipt
of such a complaint. We understand this may frustrate
you, but our research has shown that upon our arrival
the anti-social behaviour has already stopped.
So what will we do? Firstly,
the law states that an officer actually has to WITNESS
anti-social behaviour and cannot simply rely on the
word of a third party. Without this safeguard misleading
or false allegations could be made against someone
else. Therefore, police action needs to be appropriately
timed and positive. Therefore, to gather evidence
and deal with the problem, the local beat officer
will be informed of reports of anti-social behaviour
for them to tackle the problem 'head on'.
Where appropriate, the police
will also involve other agencies eg, housing and transport,
to help eradicate the problem.
This policy is adopted for most
cases of anti-social behaviour, eg, playing football
in the street. However, it does not mean an officer
will not attend where it is known that offences are
or have been committed, for example, criminal damage.
