Last week marked ASB Awareness Week, with hundreds of councils, police forces, landlords and community groups coming together to encourage people to take a stand against anti-social behaviour.
While the week was a huge success, there was a consistent message which we can no longer ignore.
People do not believe that they will be listened to if they report ASB.
Our own YouGov survey showed that 14% of the UK’s 52.9m adult population said that they had been the victim of ASB in the last three years, with a further 32% saying that they witnessed the problem.
36% of people said ASB has increased in their area in the last three years, compared to just 4% reporting a decrease. For frontline council workers dealing with increased caseloads, this will come as no surprise.
But, despite this, more than half of those who were victims of or witnessed ASB did not report the issue to anyone.
This figure has been consistent over four surveys that we’ve carried out with YouGov in recent years.
It also means that the 1.7m incidents of ASB in England and Wales recorded by the police last year is only the tip of the iceberg.
At Resolve, we wanted to know more about why people didn’t report ASB. The findings were sobering.
When victims and witnesses were asked why they didn’t make a report, 51% said they didn’t think anything would be done. 44% said they didn’t think the issue was serious enough to report.
When asked what would make them more likely to report future incidents of ASB, 36% of respondents called for clear communication about how to make a complaint and 34% wanted anonymous reporting.
These are simple steps that will make a massive difference to how people feel about where they live.
Nearly a quarter of people surveyed (24%) said ASB had made them feel unsafe in their local area. 34% said they were most likely to see ASB around their local park or play area, with 28% saying it was most likely near their local shops.
Councils have a big role to play here, working with other community safety partners to create consistent communications channels and ensuring reports of ASB are taken seriously.
ASB is not low-level crime, and we only need to turn on the news channels to see first-hand how quickly it can escalate.
14% of people who had been a victim of or witnessed ASB reported it to their council or social services – second only to the police. Only 29% said they were satisfied with how it was handled.
People must know their rights when it comes to ASB.
A similar survey earlier this year reported that only 2% of people felt they fully understood their rights to challenge ASB. 94% of people said that they had never heard of the Government’s flagship Community Trigger policy.
The Home Office has published a new set of Anti-Social Behaviour Principles, aimed at encouraging more people to report anti-social behaviour, improving partnership working between different agencies and protecting victims.
Councils should sign up to these principles.
The Department for Levelling Up launched a new expert panel to help councils with social housing stock tackle anti-social behaviour.
Resolve is also working with partners including The Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales in highlighting the need for victims to be empowered. Currently, victims of ASB are not included in the provisions of the Victims’ Code and are not mentioned in the government’s new Victims’ Bill.
There is good work being done, but it’s clear that we need to get back out into communities and talk to people about anti-social behaviour. We must demonstrate that it should not – and will not – be tolerated.
For that to happen, victims must feel like they are taken seriously.
Rebecca Bryant OBE is chief executive of Resolve
