Safer and stronger communities

Version 1, May 2008

 

Building respect in communities and reducing anti-social behaviour

Why is this a priority?

Our surveys continually tell us that anti-social behaviour is a top priority for our residents. Anti-social behaviour can be defined as “behaviour that is likely to cause alarm, harassment or distress to anyone not of the same household as the perpetrator.”

Examples of anti-social behaviour include, but are not limited to:

  • Verbal abuse, harassment, intimidation or threatening behaviour such as offensive gestures, offensive behaviour, arguing, shouting, fighting and loutish behaviour;
  • Vandalism and damage to property;
  • Drugs/substance misuse/drug dealing;
  • Alcohol related incidents;
  • Domestic abuse; and
  • Physical violence.

Working with our colleagues in the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership which consists of the Council, the Police, Fire and Rescue Service and other private and voluntary bodies and community groups, we aim to find solutions to key crimes, share information and reduce the harm caused by anti-social behaviour, illegal drug use and alcohol misuse.

Through tackling ASB, we hope to make South Tyneside a place where residents can feel proud of their communities and build places where people treat each other with respect.

Where are we now?

  • South Tyneside is a Respect Action Area which means we are committed to improving our response to anti-social behaviour by implementing the five principles of Respect.  We have also adopted four key themes in tackling anti-social behaviour which are education, enforcement, prevention and support.
  • Anti-social behaviour can often peak during Halloween and Guy Fawkes celebrations. Our successful “Mischief Week” Campaign, which ran from 29 October to 5 November 2007, offering diversionary activities for children, showed a 47% reduction in crime compared to the same period in 2006.
  • Parents are the greatest influence on a child’s behaviour and play a major role in promoting positive behaviour and tackling bad. Good parenting is really important in determining childrens life chances, acting as a protection against poverty, social exclusion, poor academic attainment, as well as crime and anti-social behaviour. The Council now has 21 members of staff accredited as parenting practitioners who work with families to promote positive parenting skills.
  • Our summer events programme promotes healthy lifestyle choices and positive alternatives to partaking in anti-social behaviour. These activities instil a sense of community and respect within young people and they harness their talents and abilities, developing them to be used in acceptable ways.
  • Despite having made significant reductions in recent years, we have the second highest rate of criminal damage per 1,000 in Tyne and Wear. Our performance is satisfactory across other areas such as noisy neighbours or loud parties, teenagers hanging around on the streets and damage to property or vehicles.

Ipsos MORI residents survey

How safe do you feel? 2002 (Safe / Very safe) 2006 (Safe / Very safe) % Change
Walking alone during the day? 90% 94% +4
Walking alone after dark? 49% 53% +4
At home alone during the day? 95% 98% +3
At home alone after dark? 83% 90% +7

Where do we want to be?

  • The issue of anti-social behaviour can sometimes be one of perception and we are working to tackle misconceptions. The Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership have developed a comprehensive media strategy and will be promoting a series of campaigns under the “Safer South Tyneside” banner.
  • We will continue to make full use of the Government’s new anti-social behaviour powers, including Demoted Tenancies, Anti-Social Behaviour Injunctions, and Dispersal Orders.
  • Our Family Intervention Project supports our most challenging families. Our Senior Parenting Officer runs parenting courses, supported by a Parenting Support Group Co-ordinator and an Anti-social Behaviour Parenting Worker. We will continue to work with families to promote positive parenting skills.
  • Neighbourhood policing is key to tackling crime and disorder, and engaging and involving residents will help us design new solutions to reducing anti-social behaviour and building respect in communities.

National indicators in our Local Area Agreement

  • NI 17 Perceptions of anti-social behaviour
  • NI 20 Assault with injury crime
  • NI 30 Re-offending rate of prolific and priority offenders
  • NI 32 Repeat incidents of domestic violence

How are we performing?

Many of these indicators are new, and information on them is only just being collected.   As a result, these figures will be updated as more information becomes available to show our progress.

  • In 2007, the percentage of residents perceiving anti-social behaviour to be high in the Borough reduced from 49% to 28%.  This is a positive step change of 21%. This reduction was the largest in Tyne and Wear.
  • In 2006, only 43% of our residents felt there was a problem with graffiti and vandalism, a drop of 32% from 2003 (BVPI Survey)
  • In 2006, 60% of residents felt that there was a problem with people not treating each other with enough respect (BVPI Survey)

Our multi-agency approach to reducing anti-social behaviour has shown clear success, with a continued drop in the rate of incidents experienced by people in South Tyneside.

Anti-social behaviour incidents per 1000 population

 

If you would like access to the figures, they are available at borough and neighbourhood level on Statistics Online, with further information on crime rates, although some information may be suppressed to prevent disclosure.

Links to further information

Plans and strategies

Next update due: April 2009

 

Safer and stronger communities

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