Labour has today set out its stall as the party of law and order
as it slams the Conservative’s weak record on anti-social
behaviour.
New Labour analysis published today has shed light
on the Conservative’s failure to crackdown on anti-social
behaviour.
The Community Trigger - rebranded as the “Anti-social behaviour
Case Review” in the government’s latest action plan - is
currently used less than once a day across the
country, despite the 1.1 million incidents of anti-social
behaviour recorded by police last year. In many areas it is never
used at all.
By the government’s own admission, “94% of people surveyed had
never heard of the tool”. Further polling shows that just 2% of
people understand their anti-social behaviour rights.
Labour has set out a comprehensive action plan to tackle
anti-social behaviour including:
-
A Neighbourhood Policing Guaranteewith 13,000
additional neighbourhood police and PCSOs, increased town
centre patrols and a guaranteed named officer and PCSO for
every community.
-
Introduce new Respect Orders: a new criminal
offence, issued if an adult’s anti-social behaviour injunction
is breached, giving the police stronger powers, ending the
farce of confusing powers and systems which are barely
used.
-
Tough action against town centre drug
dealing with tough powers for police to shut down
crack houses and local neighbourhood drug teams to patrol town
centres and lead data-driven hotspot policing targeted at
common drug dealing sites.
-
Clean up squads for fly-tippers: with tough
penalties for fly-tippers and establish clean up squads whereby
offenders will clear up litter, fly-tipping and vandalism they
have dumped.
-
Expanding the use of parental
sanctions for parents whose children repeatedly
engage in anti-social behaviour, delivered through the courts,
and overseen by Community Payback Boards and Local
Authorities.
Meanwhile, sentences for breaching Criminal Behaviour Orders –
another flagship Conservative policy – have collapsed by over 30%
since 2018, with just five sentences issued a day.
To make matters worse, 10,000 neighbourhood officers and PCSOs
have been cut from Britain’s streets since 2015 - so there are
fewer neighbourhood officers to take action against anti-social
behaviour.
In contrast, Labour's mission in Government will be to
make Britain’s streets safe by halving serious violent crime
and raising confidence in the police and criminal justice system
to its highest levels.
, Labour's Shadow Home
Secretary, said:
“Anti-social behaviour ruins lives without consequence. After 13
years of Conservative government, more offenders are getting away
with it, and more communities are being completely let
down.
“Labour is the party of law and order. The next Labour government
will give tough new powers to police through Respect Orders to
crack down on the repeat offenders causing misery in towns across
the country.
“The Conservatives just don’t understand that nothing will change
on anti-social behaviour if we don’t have local police in place.
So we will also put 13,000 neighbourhood police and PCSOs back
into our towns.
“Labour’s mission will be to make Britain’s streets safe.
Tackling anti-social behaviour is a key part of that mission, and
we have the plan to deliver it.”
Ends
Notes to editors:
- In the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime
& Policing Act 2014, the Conservative government replaced the
pioneering anti-social behaviour powers introduced by the last
Labour government with a series of new tools, including the
Community Trigger:
o Anti-social Behaviour,
Crime and Policing Act 2014 (legislation.gov.uk)
- According to the government’s own
Action Plan published this week, ‘94% of people surveyed had
never heard of the tool.’ Anti-Social Behaviour
Action Plan - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
- Despite the lack of published
statistics, previous FOIs from BBC Panorama found that only about
300 triggers were used in 2021 (less than one per day), with 37
councils never having used the power at all Is anti-social behaviour still
seen 'as a bit of bother'? - BBC News
- Another power revised in the 2014
Act was the new Criminal Behaviour Order, issued post-sentence.
But according to the latest statistics, sentences for breaching
such orders have fallen from 2,873 to 1,958 between 2018 and 2022
- a fall of 32%
o Criminal Justice System
statistics quarterly: June 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), Outcomes by Offence
data tool, ‘Breach of a criminal behaviour order’
