Put Police ‘At Heart’ Of ASB Solution

Federation trusts officers’ pivotal role will be recognised in new initiative ...

The Police Federation of England and Wales has thrown its support behind the new anti-social initiative to be piloted in eight forces but has stressed that officers need to be “at the heart” of the solution.

The seven-month trial aims to improve the protection of vulnerable victims of anti-social behaviour through better information sharing and changing the way complaints are handled.

The Federation welcomed the move that will implement changes to the IT and complaints logging systems to identify and support people subjected to the abuse.

“We totally support anything that tackles the evils of anti-social behaviour and recognises the blight it puts on many people's lives,” a Federation spokesman told PoliceOracle.com.

However, the Fed also highlighted that improving the use of IT must be complemented with the appropriate human resources if forces were going to be successful in protecting vulnerable victims.

“In order for these pilots to work effectively we need to ensure we have sufficient resources and police officers available to deal with this problem.

“IT is part of a solution to a problem that still requires men and women to deal with this issue face-to-face. We trust that this initiative recognises that and is a measured and considered approach that will place police officers at the heart of the solution,” the spokesman added.

ACPO have issued a statement outlining the key principles behind the pilot scheme that will run until July in Avon and Somerset, Cambridgeshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, London, South Wales, Sussex and West Mercia.

In addition to technical and procedural changes, the trials will strengthen links between the police, their neighbourhoods and local agencies.

ACC Simon Edens, ACPO lead on anti-social behaviour, confirmed senior officers had been working with community partners to ensure a joined-up system was established.

In a statement he said: “The results of the pilot will help us shape a more consistent approach to dealing with the policing response to local concerns.

“Anti-social behaviour is not something that the police can tackle in isolation. We need to ensure that we are working with all local agencies and sharing information where necessary, and are fully in support of all approaches to encourage greater personal and community involvement in neighbourhoods.”


At a glance - The five key principles include:

1. Creating an effective call handling system where each individual has a log of complaints created from the very first call

2. Introducing risk assessment tools to quickly identify the most vulnerable victims

3. Installing off-the-shelf IT systems to share information on cases between agencies, removing the need for meetings

4. Agreeing a protocol across all local agencies setting out how they will manage cases

5. Engaging with the community to clearly set out the issues which are causing the most harm to individuals and neighbourhoods, and setting out how the police, other local agencies and the public can work together to address them

Article courtesy of www.policeoracle.com