Downing Street Says » Anti Social Behaviour

» Monday, June 12, 2006

Anti Social Behaviour

Asked whether Louise Casey’s comments on encouraging people to be proactive on ASB had come from last week’s cabinet committee and why had they taken so long to emerge, the PMOS suggested that although, no doubt, decisions at the BBC were actioned instantly things took a little longer in government. People should not get hung up on what was one idea in the discussion, but to take on board the principle that would be implemented. This government had brought in the ASB legislation, run pilot projects and was now extending it across the country because we recognised that for too long people had suffered from antisocial behaviour and not known what to do about it. We had now given local communities, local police forces and local authorities the means by which to do something about it. We had to break through and encourage local people in estates to believe something could be done so that they knew if they were to speak up they would be listened to and see action.

This was the purpose of the discussion going on at the Home Office. It was not something that we were apologetic about in any way, quite the reverse in fact; this was something we wanted to develop. If this wrong story had raised the awareness of ASBOs then that was a good thing. Put that a lot of people who had experienced antisocial behaviour may get listened to by the police but never actually saw one, the PMOS said that if people looked at the number of extra police and community support officers around the country, which continued to grow, that was becoming less and less of an issue. Secondly, if people looked at the effort that central government had put into developing the ASB legislation and giving the authorities the means to use it that equally addressed the question. We did want people to use these powers and we did want to encourage local authorities and police to use them as well.

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