John
01-04-2011, 12:55 PM
A new approach to tackling anti-social behaviour will go on trial in eight areas on Tuesday in a bid to prevent victims who suffer repeated abuse slipping through the net.
Calls for action followed several high profile cases, such as that of Fiona Pilkington, who killed herself and her severely disabled 18-year-old daughter after they were hounded on their Leicestershire estate for a decade.
Crime Prevention Minister James Brokenshire said the pilot project would involve better logging of complaints and improving the sharing of information to ensure vulnerable people were quickly identified.
"Anti-social behaviour ruins lives, damages our communities and, at its worst, can have tragic consequences. It is essential those who raise the alarm and ask for help are listened to and their complaints acted upon promptly," he said.
"It is not acceptable that those most in need either slip through the net or are plain ignored."
A report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary last September estimated there were some 12.5 million incidents of anti-social behaviour in 2009.
It said the problem was widespread, a significant number of people suffered it repeatedly, and those who reported it often faced intimidation. However it concluded some police forces were not treating it as a priority.
The trial will involve creating a better police call handling system to ensure all individual complaints are logged, and engagement with local communities to find out what their issues are and how best to deal with them.
Police in Avon and Somerset, Cambridgeshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, London, South Wales, Sussex and West Mercia will take part in the pilot which will run until July.
The government said its aim was to move control over anti-social behaviour from central government to local agencies and promised a review at the end of trials.
The Daily Telegraph reported that this would mean greater powers for the police and the death knell of the anti-social behaviour order (ASBO), the now much-derided measure brought in by Tony Blair in 1999 as part of his Respect agenda.
"The results of the pilot will help us shape a more consistent approach to dealing with the policing response to local concerns as well as developing our links with partners," said Assistant Chief Constable Simon Edens, the Association of Chief Police Officers' spokesman on the issue.
Source - Yahoo.
Calls for action followed several high profile cases, such as that of Fiona Pilkington, who killed herself and her severely disabled 18-year-old daughter after they were hounded on their Leicestershire estate for a decade.
Crime Prevention Minister James Brokenshire said the pilot project would involve better logging of complaints and improving the sharing of information to ensure vulnerable people were quickly identified.
"Anti-social behaviour ruins lives, damages our communities and, at its worst, can have tragic consequences. It is essential those who raise the alarm and ask for help are listened to and their complaints acted upon promptly," he said.
"It is not acceptable that those most in need either slip through the net or are plain ignored."
A report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary last September estimated there were some 12.5 million incidents of anti-social behaviour in 2009.
It said the problem was widespread, a significant number of people suffered it repeatedly, and those who reported it often faced intimidation. However it concluded some police forces were not treating it as a priority.
The trial will involve creating a better police call handling system to ensure all individual complaints are logged, and engagement with local communities to find out what their issues are and how best to deal with them.
Police in Avon and Somerset, Cambridgeshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, London, South Wales, Sussex and West Mercia will take part in the pilot which will run until July.
The government said its aim was to move control over anti-social behaviour from central government to local agencies and promised a review at the end of trials.
The Daily Telegraph reported that this would mean greater powers for the police and the death knell of the anti-social behaviour order (ASBO), the now much-derided measure brought in by Tony Blair in 1999 as part of his Respect agenda.
"The results of the pilot will help us shape a more consistent approach to dealing with the policing response to local concerns as well as developing our links with partners," said Assistant Chief Constable Simon Edens, the Association of Chief Police Officers' spokesman on the issue.
Source - Yahoo.