People affected by antisocial behaviour will have the right to force action from the police and local agencies, the Coalition Government has said. Home Secretary Theresa May, pictured, unveiled plans to introduce what she called faster and more effective powers to stop dangerous and yobbish behaviour.
What the Home Office termed the existing top down approach will be turned on its head, it is claimed, to ensure local solutions are found to local problems with a focus on the impact of victims and neighbourhoods.
The antisocial behaviour White Paper, Putting Victims First: more effective responses to antisocial behaviour, will reduce 19 complex existing powers to six new ones. Victims who feel their problems are not being taken seriously enough will have the right to force action through a newly introduced ‘Community Trigger’. The Trigger will be trialled in Manchester, Brighton and Hove and West Lindsey in Lincolnshire from June. Theresa May, said: ‘Everyone has the right to feel safe in their own homes and neighbourhoods. Yet thousands of people around the country are still having their every day lives blighted by antisocial behaviour.
‘Many don’t even report it, convinced it won’t be taken seriously. And sadly too often they have been right.
‘It’s time to put victims first. That’s what this Government will do. Our new plans aim to give victims the chance to have their problem dealt with immediately. We will slash the confusing and cumbersome legislation that leaves victims without a voice and police without the ability to really tackle the problem. Police and local agencies will now have clarity and the powers to come down hard on those who inflict anti-social behaviour on others.’
The Government said that it will publish a draft bill for pre-legislative scrutiny. Responding, Gloria De Piero MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Office Minister, said: “The Government are weakening the powers police have to tackle antisocial behaviour. These measures are a weak re-brand, with a breach of the order not even resulting in a criminal record and the police having to fund these civil proceedings in the first place.
“And people will be bemused that it will take three separate complaints, or five different households, before getting a response. All complaints should be dealt with, and quickly. People suffering from antisocial behaviour don’t want to wait for the Government’s proposed slow trigger.
“The Government said they would act on antisocial behaviour two years ago. It’s taken that amount of time for them to publish a paper. Stronger tools for the police to tackle antisocial behaviour should have been in the Queen’s Speech.
“This Government is cutting the police by 16,000 officers, weakening police powers and failing to take crime seriously. This is yet another sign of their weakness and lack of commitment in the fight against crime.”
