Dealing with Anti-Social Behaviour

Anti-social behaviour can blight any neighbourhood. It can be destructive, demoralising and even dangerous. It is not restricted to youths, as many adults can also be responsible for causing a problem. Whether it's Causing Noise Pollution, verbal abuse or harassment, a failure to control their pets, or using their home to supply drugs, there are many instances which would fall under the definition of anti-social behaviour. There are, however, certain things you can do to try to tackle the problem.

Keeping Records

In order for the police and other relevant authorities to take any action with regards to anti-social behaviour in your neighbourhood, it's important that you are able to give them as much information as possible. Keep a record of when, where and who is involved with the anti-social activity, writing down as many details as you can.

If you have access to a digital camera or camcorder, so much the better, but ensure that you use these kinds of devices covertly and preferably within the confines of your own home. If a person thinks they are being monitored, it will either result in them curtailing their behaviour for a time, until they think they're not being watched again, or it can actually result in them confronting you, which could be very dangerous. However, the more information you can provide, the easier it will be for the authorities to proceed with any further action where necessary.

Tackling The Problem Yourself

If you feel that the anti-social behaviour in question is something that is relatively minor that you could deal with yourself, it's often easier to go and speak to the person involved. It might simply be a neighbour who's burning rubbish which is giving off dark smoke, or there are young children who are constantly kicking a football onto your property, and you may wish to speak to them or their parents about it.

Often, some people who are responsible for anti-social behaviour are not even aware of that they're causing a nuisance, so a friendly, polite chat will usually resolve the problem. However, you should only tackle them directly if you're certain that you're not putting yourself at any risk. Confronting Teenage Gangs or people who have been drinking alcohol or taking drugs are best left to the police and other relevant authorities to deal with.

What the Police and Others can do

The police and other relevant organisations, such as your local authority, council or housing association, will often work together in tackling some of the issues surrounding anti-social behaviour. Initially, unless a problem threatens to get immediately out of hand, they will usually adopt a 'softly softly' approach and have a word with the offenders to try to help them understand the consequences of their actions, and discourage any subsequent repeat of the behaviour in question.

However, if this doesn't work then, under numerous laws, they can take more formal action which, depending upon the behaviour, might include getting offenders to sign up to acceptable behaviour contracts or they can even issue community protection notices or public spaces protection orders.

If all efforts fail to resolve the situation, however, the police will arrest the perpetrators and court action will follow. This could result in measures being taken, such as issuing civil injunctions or criminal behaviour orders and Drug House Closures, if appropriate. And, in cases where even these measures fail to control the behaviour, the perpetrators can be given custodial sentences.

The Next Step

Now that you have read through the advice above, you might want to put it into practice. Our Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan lets you get a clear action plan to deal with anti-social neighbours. Takes 2 minutes. Try it now →