Dealing with anti-social behaviour

Dealing with reports and incidents of anti-social behaviour

Access to Police Anti-Social Behaviour incidents and management of Anti-Social Behaviour alongside Police:

Our ASB Coordinators review all incidents of Anti-Social Behaviour that are called into the Police on a regular basis. They work with the Neighbourhood Policing Inspectors and Teams in their areas to offer assistance with regards to resolving incidents and calls that come into the Police.

The Coordinators will work closely with local PCSO's and PC beat managers to resolve local issues and identify at the earliest stage any Anti-Social Behaviour that can be resolved at the earliest opportunity.

Repeat caller/location process

Cheshire Constabulary has processes in place that identify repeat calls and repeat locations involving Anti-Social Behaviour. These are monitored by our Coordinators and will be discussed and any relevant interventions put in place in conjunction with the Police to try and find the core problems that are leading to these calls to service.

Identifying vulnerable people

Police Officers and PCSO's covering their relevant beats have all the skills and knowledge to bring to attention any individuals that they consider may be particularly vulnerable with regards to any anti-social behaviour they have been suffering from.

These can be individuals that are victims/reporters of anti-social behaviour who need an enhanced multi-agency approach with regards to supporting them and also tackling and identifying individuals that are responsible for the anti-social behaviour that has been reported.

Also perpetrators of anti-social behaviour can themselves be identified as particularly vulnerable due to a number of factors that we also look at addressing as well as tacking the anti-social behaviour they have been involved in.

Priority will always remain in the protection of the community; solutions to tackling anti-social behaviour often lie within tackling issues from their route cause, rather than an “incident by incident” basis.

Multi-Agency Action Group Meetings

The  ASB Team attend regular meetings of the Multi-Agency Action Group (MAAG), which are represented by several agencies including Police, Cheshire East Council, and Cheshire Fire Service. These meetings will focus on “task and finish” solutions across the borough which require a “joined up” approach.

A number of place based asb and environmental issues are taken to the meeting in order to identify lead agencies when finding both short term and long term solutions to some of the issues that are highlighted within Cheshire East communities

Alderley Edge – ASB High Performance Cars

An increasing number of complaints had been received by both Cheshire East Council and The Police relating to asb behaviour linked to the driving of high performance vehicles in the village of Alderley Edge, Cheshire.This matter was considered by partners at the  MAAG North Meeting in July 2020.

Agreement was reached by partners for additional information to be obtained through a Survey. The survey was designed to obtain responses in relation to, the nature of incidents, the times the behaviour was likely to occur, and also to collect views of how this matter had affected the local community. Two ‘Engagement days’ conducted by Ce Officers, the Police and members of the Alderley Edge Parish Council took place on Saturday 8 August and Thursday 13 August.

Consultation / Survey

During the ‘Engagement Days’ the opportunity was provided for residents, business owners and visitors to complete the survey at the time, alternatively a letter was handed out providing details of how to complete the survey on-line including a link directly to the survey. The survey was ‘open’ from Saturday 13 August 2020 to 1 September 2020.A total of 1342 responses to the survey were received. At a further meeting of the  MAAG North in early September agreed for a separate meeting of partners to consider the outcomes of the survey in further detail which was held later in the month. 

  • Alderley Edge survey results (PDF, 101KB)

Outcomes

Having considered the results of the survey, partners agreed on the following outcomes:

  • Highway plans to introduce Traffic Calming Measures (PDF, 200KB)
  • Continued use of Community Speedwatch Scheme
  • Potential use of Community Protections Notices (CPN’s)
  • Potential use of Sec 59 Notices Organised Car Show Events

Anti-social behaviour log books

If you are suffering from certain types of anti social behaviour, we can give you a log book for you to record incidents. This will help us find out when and where the behaviour is taking place and who is responsible.  

Some incidents may not be of a nature that you may feel needs a call to the Police, but are affecting your everyday life.

This could consist of a particular resident/family that are causing issues for a number of residents on the same street, a particular group of people that are visiting the area you work or live in, causing anti-social behaviour.

Log books assist us to identify patterns of behaviour, times of day the behaviour is being displayed and also log any incidents between a number of residents to evidence harassment, alarm and distress that is being caused.

The books assist you to detail the incident, give a description of what has happened and a description of an individual who you may not know the name of, report times of day and also will give you the opportunity to write down how this has and is making you feel.

All of which is very important to us, and we can use these logs to submit along with any other information we obtain with an aim to tackle the behaviour you are suffering from.

These log books will be hand delivered to you and hand collected by a local PCSO or Police officer. You will receive a call from our Team no later than two weeks after issue of your log book in order to arrange an appointment for collection of your book or make sure that you are happy to keep the book that you have as no entries have been recorded.

If you would like more information about our log books, please feel free to call us or contact us on our dedicated number or mailbox.

Dealing with individuals involved in anti-social behaviour

Young People

The ASB Team have a notification process in place which looks at any form of Anti-Social Behaviour that young people may find themselves involved in from the lowest level all the way towards much more formal actions.

Cheshire East Police Officers within the Cheshire East area work in conjunction with the ASB Team by completing “yellow cards” when out and about on duty and coming across young people that have been involved in an Anti-Social incident or witnessed by an officer on their daily beat patrols.

Details will be taken from the young person by the officer; the cards will then be forwarded to the ASB team. Depending on the type of incident and number of times the young person has come to attention in the past the following actions could take place:

A series of warning letters are sent the parents/guardians of young people detailing the incident and what actions should be taken. There is normally a limit of 3 yellow cards/warning letters within a six month period before any further preventive or formal action is considered.

Incidents detailed include underage drinking, possession of alcohol underage, causing noise and anti-social disturbances in a recognised anti-social behaviour hotspot area, causing anti-social behaviour and nuisance in and around town centres, shops, neighbourhoods, parks, community centres/spaces or specific incidents targeting a certain group of or individual victims.

Young people coming to persistent attention will be nominated to our Preventing Offending Panel where by we then look at further actions and preventative measures that can take place in order to stop this type of behaviour. Types of interventions can include:

Nomination to a preventative agency

We have two core preventing offending and ASB Teams that sit on our panel and take on cases of young people and their families with a view to offering interventions, one to one work, family work and also assisting the young person to take on and engage in positive activities. Age range can be from 10 to 17 years old. Cheshire East Targeted Youth Service also assist the panel by providing one to one work with young people who are engaging in underage drinking and drug use.

Cheshire East Targeted Youth Service also have connections with schools, who run various clubs and interventions across the East of Cheshire, who can also assist with engaging hard to reach young people whom are in need of preventative assistance and education/employment guidance.

Acceptable Behaviour Discussions (ABD’s)

The young person and their parents/Guardians are invited to attend a meeting at the relevant Police Station to discuss their child’s behaviour and what can be done to prevent further incidents. The ASB Coordinator will chair these meetings and in attendance with them will be a local Police officer or PCSO , preventative agency representative and other attendees may include Education, Youth Offending Service, Cheshire East Targeted Youth Service and Registered Social Landlords. A warning will also be given to the family with regards to what interventions could take place if the behaviour continues.

Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABC’s)

This is a contract that the young person will be asked to sign, along with their parent/guardian which consists of a list of rules they must keep to in order to improve their behaviour and protect the community. Young People have to be a minimum of 10 years old to sign these contacts themselves. If they are under 10 years old the parent will be asked to sign the ABC . If these rules are breached then formal proceedings will take place, which many consist of the following:

  • application for an Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) or equivalent
  • notice seeking possession/possession of their property (if private or social landlord)
  • formal fines and sanctions from Council (Environmental Health, Community Wardens)
  • criminal proceedings

Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (or equivalent under any new Government Legislation)

These are civil orders which are applied for through the courts which place restrictions on a person with the aim to protect members of the community from their persistent anti-social behaviour.

These orders can only be applied for when a clear pattern of behaviour can be evidenced and the Partnership relies heavily on members of community to feed this information in. In some cases we are able to present this information on the community’s behalf, especially for those whom have been personally affected by the behaviour of an individual and have been left feeling intimidated and fearful.

These orders last for a minimum of 2 years and can last for an in-definite period. Conditions on an order can vary, but include exclusion zones, conditions around how they behave in public (not to be drunk or abusive etc) and not to associate with certain individuals.

Dealing with adults

Once a potential perpetrator has been identified, the Team will liaise with all the relevant agencies involved with the incident and the perpetrator with a view to tackle the behaviour they are displaying and put the correct actions in place to protect the members of the community that have been suffering from their behaviour. The following actions may take place:

  • A letter warning sent to the individual detailing the behaviour reported and also warning them of further actions that could be taken if the behaviour continues.
  • Acceptable Behaviour Discussion meeting
  • The individual is asked to attend a meeting along with the relevant agencies and their landlord if social or private rented accommodation to discuss their behaviour.

Acceptable Behaviour Contract Meeting

The individual is asked to attend a meeting, which will then ask them to sign up to a voluntary contract on conditions, prohibiting them from doing certain things and displaying certain types of behaviour that has been causing harassment, alarm and distress to members of the community/public.

Breach of tenancy

If the individual is living in rented accommodation with either social or private housing, then this could put their home at risk. The ASB Team work very closely with all Registered Social Landlords and also local landlords of any private rented accommodation. The ASB Team aims to  request the support of landlords in assisting with tackling anti-social behaviour displayed by their tenants.

Contact us

ASBTeam@cheshireeast.gov.uk

Page last reviewed: 16 October 2019