Don’t just assume if it is out of office hours that you need to call the Police. You do not. Local Authorities and Housing Associations have out-of-hour numbers you can call too. Our Act Now! Guide will take you to the right page of your Local Authority website for many of the common problems like noise and graffiti. On these pages, you will find all the information you need to formally report the problem. Just work through our Act Now! guide to learn more.
You will probably be asked the following questions so have your answers ready:
The police, local authority, or other agency have a range of tools available to them to tackle anti-social behaviour. Early intervention techniques are very effective in a number of situations – these include measures such as verbal and written warnings, mediation and Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (also called ABCs, or Acceptable Behaviour Agreements) which are voluntary written agreements between a perpetrator who is under 18 and the local authority and police, agreeing not to be involved with certain anti-social acts (witnessed also by their parents).
Legally, there are a variety of options for agencies. See What the Law Says for information on these tools. Some of these can be done on their own. For others they need to agree them with partner agencies. The actions need to be decided through court and the decision will ultimately lie with the judge on that particular day. Agencies therefore need to gather together solid evidence to support their case. To do this takes time and costs money. Therefore agencies will want to be pretty sure they can get the result they want before going to court. You can help by providing as much evidence as possible with as much detail as you can. They will usually also need to convince the judge that they have tried early intervention techniques like ABCs and failed which is why court action is required.
ASB Help will always endeavour to work collaboratively with practitioners and partner agencies across England and Wales to promote and attain the best possible outcome for the victim. It is our hope that our expertise and experience will be used as an asset by practitioners in all cases that we consult on, however it must be noted that we do NOT have jurisdiction over local agencies and cannot compel partners to undertake specific action.
We will continue to offer objective advice to victims and practitioners alike and hope that in doing so we can promote best practice in ASB case management as well as raising awareness of victims rights.
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