Anti-social behaviour

The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 defines anti-social behaviour as acting "in a manner that caused or was likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not of the same household as himself". That means that behaviour by a person who does not live with you, which causes you to feel alarmed, distressed or harassed could be classed as anti-social behaviour.

Anti-social behaviour can take many forms, including playing loud music in the early hours of the morning, graffiti and vandalism, offensive and threatening behaviour, harassment and intimidation, fly-tipping and fly-posting.

Anti-social behaviour remains a high priority both locally and nationally. It was raised as the top priority for respondents to our consultation on the 2004 Crime Audit and has featured in the top three priorities for all West Mercia Partners And Communities Together (PACT) meetings during 2007. Central government continues to adapt and add to the tools and powers available to practitioners to tackle anti-social behaviour.

In January 2006 the Respect Action Plan was launched. This aimed to tackle the underlying causes of anti-social behaviour. In October 2007 the Youth Taskforce was created to continue work on tackling anti-social behaviour. You can find out more about Respect and the Youth Taskforce by following the link on this page.

In Shropshire there is a multi-agency group which meets regularly to discuss and action plan how anti-social behaviour can be tackled. The group is called Shropshire Together. To find out more about Shropshire Together follow the link on this page.

Depending on the type of anti-social behaviour there are many agencies that can respond to try and stop it. This can lead to confusion over knowing who to report what to. For information on where to report incidents of anti-social behaviour follow the link on this page.

Due to the broad nature of anti-social behaviour there are a number of tools and powers available to tackle it. For more information on tools and powers follow the link on this page.

The Safer Shropshire Partnership works to promote community safety. As a lead member of the partnership, Shropshire County Council Safer Communities Team has attended and held several events recently to promote the work of the partnership to reduce anti-social behaviour. Partners also offer diversionary activities for children and young people to give them something to do and somewhere to go. These activities aim to reduce anti-social behaviour by providing productive activities. If you would like more information on the Safer Shropshire Partnership please follow the link on this page.

If you are a practitioner whose role includes tackling anti-social behaviour please follow the link on this page to anti-social behaviour - practitioners information.