What is considered community ASB?
Community ASB is anti-social behaviour which happens in public spaces, this ASB can have a detrimental impact on community members and their quality of life. Community ASB can include but is not limited to:
• Misuse of public areas e.g. aggressive begging.
• Unauthorised street drinking.
• Inconsiderate behaviour e.g. public disorder, public urination, irresponsible disposal of hazardous materials e.g. drug paraphernalia.
• Graffiti and vandalism [internal link] of public space.
• Squatting.
What is considered commercial ASB?
Commercial ASB is anti-social behaviour experienced by businesses, including staff. Commercial ASB can have a detrimental impact on staff and customer wellbeing and financial health of businesses. No one should have to face or tolerate ASB as part of their role. Commercial ASB can include:
• Behaviour that threatens the safety of employees, customers and neighbours of businesses.
• Foul and abusive language and behaviour towards employees and customers.
• Damage to the business property e.g. vandalism.
How should I record any community or commercial ASB?
Diary sheets
Diary sheets are a great way to record what is happening, how often and the impact this has had on yourself and your community/business.
Please ensure that you pass these diary sheets onto your case officer regularly so they can review the content and consider what action to take. If a case goes to court, (although this is not always necessary to stop the ASB) records of the ASB captured in good detail at the time it happened will help officers handling the case by providing credible, accurate evidence.
Most agencies will have a template ASB diary sheet that they should be able to supply you with. However, in the meantime, you can use your own diary or download the ASB Help Diary Sheet.
Here are some steps you can follow to report commercial and/or community ASB:
1. Contact your local authority, or police on 101 and report any incidents of ASB.
2. In case of emergency e.g. if someone is being violent or aggressive towards you, please contact the police on 999.
Please ensure you have reported all incidents of ASB to your local police and local authority. Police can use tools and powers to protect businesses who are experiencing ASB.
You can find further risk reduction methods for businesses here. (Anti-Social Behaviour (nbcc.police.uk)
What else can I do about community ASB?
Anti-social behaviour in public spaces can be a problem for local authorities and communities across England and Wales. Even if a perpetrator cannot be identified or is unknown, the ASB should still be reported for authorities to build a picture of the issues to tackle in the local area.
There are lots of local partnerships and groups you could join to contribute to making your community safer.
For example, Neighbourhood Watch (https://www.ourwatch.org.uk/get-involved/find-my-local-scheme) have a network of groups across the UK that work to prevent anti-social behaviour in the community.
What should I do if nothing has worked?
Request an ASB Case Review
You may feel like you have exhausted all your options. You may have reported anti-social behaviour but feel no one is listening and the anti-social behaviour is continuing. The ASB Case Review has been designed for this situation.
If you (or others with your consent) have reported 3 incidents (or more) within a 6-month period, you can activate the ASB Case Review.
This will activate a multi-agency case review designed to devise an action plan to resolve the anti-social behaviour collectively.
Read more about the ASB Case Review here.