An epidemic of antisocial behaviour

“Antisocial behaviour must be a priority, in fact it must be a higher priority than some crimes.”

These are the words not of a politician but the man at the very top of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Denis O’Connor, the man in charge overseeing the standards of policing in England and Wales.

He added if it were cholera, the country would not be spending years asking for people’s opinions on what to do.

The sense of ambition is not strong enough, he added, to meet the needs of the public. “I’m calling time on this.”

Talk about putting a bomb under those responsible for social policy in this country.

Today for the first time, an organisation has tried to get a grip on the scale of antisocial behaviour because the failure to deal with it is seriously undermining confidence in policing.

HMIC has been sampling some police forces and some communities about the prevalence of antisocial behaviour and what it’s found is nothing less than astonishing.

It estimates in 2008/9 there were 3.6 million incidents of ASB reported to police. That figure is almost on par with reported levels of crime which for the same period stood at 4.5 million.

But privately senior officers believe there is so much underreporting of antisocial behaviour that the true figure is probably double at somewhere over 7 million incidents. They say many victims report barely half of what is inflicted upon them.

One example quoted is a 36 year old woman who called police ten times about youths throwing things at her house. She said she had not bothered with another 20 or additional incidents. She was told by officers that she was not the highest priority. She now sits in her house with the lights off, not wanting anyone to know she is in.

What is even more shocking in the light of the case of Fiona Pilkington, who killed herself and her daughter after being tormented by youths, is that in HMIC research one in five repeat victims classed themselves as disabled. But this is as much about scale as it is about individual hardship.

HMIC still does not have definitive information because it does not exist, in spite of years of Home Office announcements of yet more policy initiatives to tackle antisocial behaviour. Most police forces’ IT systems identify victims of repeated crime but not of antisocial behaviour.

But there is a sea change afoot. In the words of one senior HMIC officer, it is now about forces and other agencies knowing enough to look after people properly.

A snapshot of some real stories from the repeat victim survey

Male, 69, reports abusive youths frequently setting fire to bins. He has had his windows smashed when he reported it last time so does not report it anymore. He just tries to put up with it. The police tell him to report it to the council and the council tell him to report it to the police.

Male, 33, has made 200+ reports and not reported 200+ incidents. Youths banging on windows and his wife had stones thrown at her. He has reported it to police and council, but no action has been taken. He feels the police do not want to help, and claims they have called him and his wife liars.

Female, who says kids throw things at house. She sits in the darkness in the evenings so the kids think she is not in.

Female who lives in what she described as a “ghetto”. The council have moved many people on ASBOs to her area. She says she is surrounded by alcoholics and drug addicts. The area has lots of broken windows. She feels like she is being ignored.