Creating Healthy Environments in Scotland - UK

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1 Creating Healthy Environments Practical Tools for Increasing Walking in the Built Environment 3 Tools 3.10 Tackling Anti-social Behaviour Living Streets is the national charity that stands up for pedestrians. With our supporters we work to create safe, attractive and enjoyable streets, where people want to walk.

2 3.10 Tackling Anti-social Behaviour Anti-social Behaviour The term anti-social behaviour covers a wide range of selfish and unacceptable activity that can blight personal and community quality of life, prevent the renewal of disadvantaged areas and create an environment where more serious crime can flourish. Anti-social behaviour is a major issue in some of the UK s more deprived or disadvantaged communities. It is also expensive with an estimated cost to the British taxpayer of 3.4bn a year. Terms such as nuisance, disorder and harassment are also used to describe some of this behaviour, which can include: Nuisance neighbours Yobbish behaviour and intimidating groups taking over public spaces Vandalism, graffiti and fly-posting People dealing and buying drugs on the street People dumping rubbish Abandoned cars Aggresive begging and anti-social drinking The misuse of fireworks Reckless driving of mini-motorbikes. A legal definition of anti-social behaviour is found in the Crime and Disorder Act The Act describes such behaviour as acting in an anti-social manner as a manner that caused or was likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not of the same household as the perpetrator. Why does it happen? There are a variety of factors which increase the risk of anti-social behaviour. The more of these which are present, the more likely someone is to become involved in anti-social behaviour. Parenting Poor parenting skills, a weak parent/child relationship and a family history of problem behaviour. School Truancy, exclusion and unchallenged bad behaviour. Community life Living in deprived areas with disorder and neglect, lack of community spirit, living in areas with an already high-level of anti-social behaviour. Individual factors Drug and alcohol abuse, alienation and early involvement in anti-social behaviour. There are a range of interventions which can help reduce the occurrence and impact of anti-social behaviour on individuals and communities. Some interventions can also help individuals and/or their parents and families change their own behaviour and enable them to tackle some of the underlying problems. The above information has been taken from the UK Government s website for preventing and tackling anti-social behaviour:

3 Community blighted by anti-social behaviour What action can be taken? Anti-social behaviour causes harm to individuals and the community and must be stopped as soon as possible, when the minimum harm has been caused. The goal of any action is to: protect victims, witnesses and the community enable the perpetrator to understand the consequences of their behaviour make sure the perpetrator changes their behaviour. Measures that can be used by the police and other agencies include: warning letters and interviews, contracts and agreements fixed penalty notices and penalty notices for disorder parenting orders, individual support orders, noise abatement notices, injunctions, dispersal powers and anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) crack house closure orders possession proceedings against a tenant. Action may be initiated by a number of agencies including the police, local authorities, registered social landlords, housing trusts and youth offending teams. Creating stronger communities Most people care deeply about the neighbourhood and community in which they live, and many play an active role in making their neighbourhood a better place to live. Anti-social behaviour can significantly impact on people s quality of life and weaken communities people who perceive high levels of anti-social behaviour are much more likely to feel that their neighbours don t look out for one another.

4 Too many people do not report anti-social behaviour because they don t believe their complaint will be taken seriously, or that anything will happen if they do. It is therefore important to create stronger communities where people are informed about what action is happening to address their concerns, where people feel it is worth them taking the time to pick up the phone, to go to a residents meeting or put an activity on for the local kids. Graffiti and vandalism: needs rapid reporting and response An example of efficient graffiti cleaning

5 Case Study: Arden & Darnley Action Plan A Partnership Response to Issues of Disorder, Vandalism & Territorialism Glasgow Community & Safety Services Glasgow Community & Safety Services (GCSS), established in October 2006, is a partnership between Strathclyde Police and Glasgow City Council. The staff of around 500 provides a range of services dealing with anti-social behaviour and community safety. Priority areas of work include: reducing anti-social behaviour contributing to the Cleaner Glasgow campaign community safety patrols support for families and individuals who have been victims of anti-social behaviour reducing violence against women. GCSS, which is represented on the Community Safety Partnership, is a member of the Community Planning Partnership and is represented on the Council s Senior Management Committee. Organised in three locality teams covering all five Community Health and Care Partnerships, these multi-functional teams work closely with local partners including the local community, housing associations, voluntary and other organisations. Environmental enhancement is part of the GCSS s action planning approach to tackling local problems. Action plans are developed to address issues arising in problem areas, with actions generally involving working with other agencies and local people to target immediate problems and to create longer term solutions. The Arden & Darnley Action Plan is an example of this work. Background Arden and Darnley are two discrete communities which lie to the South of Glasgow and whilst once considered semi-rural communities, they have hosted several housing developments over the years and now comprise of a mixture of retail outlets and houses. Large sections of Darnley and Arden fall within the 15% most deprived areas in Scotland and a higher-than-average percentage of this population are young people. Police and community intelligence suggests that the significant issues affecting Arden and Darnley are youth disorder, vandalism and a gang culture. The M77 motorway divides these areas and would appear to be a territorial boundary for the Darnley Mad Squad and the Arden Young Toon gangs, with much of the disorder and associated activities occurring on the footbridge over the motorway and the environs at either side. There had been increasing concern regarding the high level s of anti-social behaviour within these communities. Example of a gang tag

6 Process With rising community anxiety and the resultant fear of crime amongst local residents, a partnership meeting was convened to develop a collective response to tackle these issues. It was clear from this meeting that the issues could not be addressed by any single organisation and that a joint multidisciplinary approach was required to provide a long-term, sustainable solution to the problem. The complex nature of the issues required a response that included the key strands of enforcement, public reassurance and intervention/diversion. Those present at the meeting and the services that they represented subsequently formed a problem-solving group that operated across the Community Planning Partnership. Analysis of the Problem Incidents of anti-social behaviour (ASB) increased significantly between October 2007 and December 2007, and during January 2008 to March 2008 incidents were 57% higher than the previous year. As a comparison, there were 99 incidents in March 2007 and 139 in March In relation to time of day, most incidents occurred between 6pm and 11pm, peaking around 8pm, and for day of week most incidents occurred on a Friday and Saturday evening. One main ASB hotspot was identified within the Arden & Darnley areas. Each incident of ASB was considered to involve the three key elements of the offender, the victim and the location. By addressing each of these in turn resources were utilised to maximum effect. The victim, offender and location approach helped to quickly identify the significant issues affecting the local communities in Arden and Darnley: VICTIM Residents, particularly the elderly, felt vulnerable when youths congregated and this in turn raised their fear of crime. A gang culture exists between youths in Arden and Darnley and this creates the potential for young victims of violent assault. Residents have an air of apathy and cynicism; vandalism, graffiti and antisocial behaviour are prevalent in the area demonstrating a lack of service intervention. OFFENDER While persistent offenders in the area could be targeted to provide short-term relief to the community, there was little provision for a sustained response to repeated offending. There was a lack of co-ordinated diversionary activities to deter local youths from engaging in anti-social behaviour, gang fighting and alcohol misuse. LOCATION The local skate park had become a crime generator, an area where youths gathered to engage in alcohol misuse and other anti-social behaviour. This was compounded by bad design of the skate park and poor lighting. The M77 motorway acts as a natural territorial divide between opposing gangs and the footbridge leading from Aden to Darnley was also considered as being a crime generator.

7 Response The long-term, sustainable action plan identified four key objectives: 1. To target unknown offenders and locations in the Arden and Darnley areas by using an enforcement, prevention, intervention and community consultation model. 2. To provide robust diversionary activities and effectively signpost individuals to core services provided by Glasgow Community & Safety Partnership and/or other services, relevant to the individual s needs. 3. To increase public confidence and reduce the communities fear of crime. 4. To improve the physical appearance of the areas. The Partnership sought to achieve these objectives by utilising a wide range of services. Service delivery would be directed through a task identification process based on up-to-date intelligence and recorded on an action log which highlighted issues as and when they arose. The project would involve a number of actions to be undertaken and although not an exhaustive list, included the following: ENFORCEMENT Deployment of mobile CCTV units and detection of offenders using CCTV footage. Tags photographed, collated and efforts made to identify the gang, with a view to action through the ASB legislation and Criminal/Restorative Justice system. Details of youths gathering for gang-fighting forwarded to the Community Relations Unit for joint visits and ASB legislation where appropriate. Potential for Level II surveillance/test purchase operations with regard to alleged drug/ alcohol misuse & irresponsible sale/agent purchase from off-sales premises. PREVENTION High visibility deployment of police/community Safety Patrol Officers. Regeneration of Arden Skate Park including improved lighting and the siting of a re-deployable CCTV camera. Environmental clean-ups of areas subject to fly-tipping. Timeous graffiti removal by dedicated GCSS teams. An alcohol strategy to address alcohol misuse (link with the Community Health & Care Partnership to develop an alcohol education and responsible sale programme). Deployment of the GCSS Command Vehicle for high-profile monitoring. INTERVENTION Development of a forum for sharing information & intervention through ASB legislation. Sustained provision of diversionary activities, complemented by educational inputs and relevant support mechanisms. Utilising Glasgow South West Regeneration Agency with regard to their diversion & Routes into Employment programme Comprehensive briefing for operational personnel (Community Police & Core Shift Supervisors) for signposting individuals to services. An electronic form distributed to all personnel for referral to services such as Victims & Vulnerable Services, Family Resilience & Advocacy Services, Mediation and Violence against Women Services.

8 Targets COMMUNICATION Distribution of an information leaflet outlining the proposals of the partnership and detailing services available to local dwellings and businesses. A series of qualitative surveys to ascertain public priorities and opinions. Development of a Key Individual Network comprising local residents to ensure appropriate level of public communication, standard of service delivery and to measure performance. Development of a media strategy for the duration of the project to promote success, increase community wellbeing and to provide the appropriate feedback. A dedicated Single Point of Contact (SPOC) identified within GCSS for collating and disseminating this information to the relevant service and feeding back to the problem-solving partnership. The aim of the initial six month project, from February to July 2008, was to achieve: Resulting in: 10% reduction in crime. 15% reduction in ASB crime. 20% reduction in reported ASB. 10% increase in referrals under ASB legislation. Increased confidence in the community to report crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour. A robust and sustainable diversionary programme for local youths. Increased feeling of well-being in the community. Strong community engagement processes. Better reporting mechanisms/referral processes between organisations. Conclusion A full quantitative evaluation (Systems for Tasking & Operational Resource Management, Crime Management System and the Scottish Intelligence Database) and review will be carried out on completion of the project. In addition qualitative door-step interviews and consultation events will be conducted at the beginning and end of the project. It is expected that the partnerships formed and the joint delivery of services will continue after the completion of this initiative and this will develop as a model of good practice that can be applied beyond the Arden & Darnley area. The project achieved a 40% reduction in anti-social behaviour. For further information on the Arden & Darnley Action Plan please contact: Eleanor Lee, Manager for Services Development, Glasgow Community and Safety Services T: ; E: Eleanor.lee@glasgow.gov.uk Living Streets (The Pedestrians Association) is a Registered Charity No (England and Wales) and SC (Scotland), Company Limited by Guarantee (England & Wales), Company Registration No Registered office 4th Floor, Universal House, Wentworth Street. E1 7SA