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Rate of Suffolk Asbos
31 March 2006 | 07:34
REBECCA SHEPPARD
THE rate of anti-social behaviour orders handed out to troublemakers in Suffolk has fallen, new Home Office figures have revealed.
Statistics released yesterday show that 32 banning orders were issued between January 1 and September 30, 2005.
They brought the county’s running total of anti-social behaviour orders (Asbos) to 130 since April 1, 1999.
But if the average monthly rate of Asbos imposed has continued in the county since the end of September, around 42 would have been handed out by the end of 2005 – which would be a drop of 50% on the previous year.
The greatest number of restrictions were imposed in the Ipswich Borough Council area last year, where 11 were handed out in the first three quarters of the year, bringing the total over the five-and-a-half year period to 45.
This was closely followed by Suffolk Coastal District Council, where 33 were given out, with 11 between January and September 2005, and Waveney, where 28 were imposed with six in the first nine months of last year.
Rachel Tucker, Asbo officer for Waveney District Council, said she was not surprised the numbers of orders being issued appear to be falling.
She explained that authorities now meet on a monthly basis to see what can be done with individuals who cause harassment, alarm or distress.
.The first port of call is to divert them away from doing that. Asbos are seen as a last option,. she said.
A total of 46 Asbos were given out to juveniles in the county between April 1999 and September 2005. Eleven youngsters aged between 10 and 17 received the bans from courts in the first three quarters of last year, compared to 12 in the same period the previous year.
The figures, which showed that nationally 43% of the 7,356 ASBOs in England and Wales were given to juveniles, come after a former top Home Office civil servant launched an attack on the Government’s use of child Asbos.
Martin Narey said too many youngsters were being locked up as a result of the orders and suggested the Government had gone back on its word to only use Asbos on under-18s in .exceptional. cases.
But Jim Manning, Ipswich council’s head of community safety, said the borough currently has 46 Asbos on its records but only seven are on juveniles, bucking the national trend.
He said the fact Ipswich had the highest rate of Asbos was to be expected, as a third of all crime in the county is in the town.
.There is a lot more preventative work going on now to stop certain people get to that stage where they are the subject of an ASBO but also I think the message getting out to people is that if they do misbehave then it will result in proceedings against them,. he said.
Applications for Asbos can be made to magistrates by a police force, local authority, housing action trust or registered social landlord.
The orders, which are tailored to each individual, are designed to tackle low level crime that blights communities and can ban people from certain locations or stipulate a curfew.
Troublemakers face jail if they persist with behaviour barred under the orders.
a few bits of background info. (I don’t as yet know of the rural areas that well, but I have been reading the Drugs Action team (DAT) info for the area)
Ipswich is locked down.
there are actually a lot of cops, PCSOs and uniformed council workers with a constant presence on the streets compared to somewhere like Reading, an there is CCTV on every street corner. They also do odd things like play classical music on street loudspeakers to frighten young kids away. It works, but it is rather like living in a cross between “The Village” and a “Clockwork Orange” TBH.
The night time economy is deliberately limited. Even the young chavs disappear by midnight, their parents come and pick them up!
The late night venues are confined to one area of the town with a limited amount of entry/exit points. If anything kicks off there, the cops are on top of it like a shot. Rave events appear to have been clamped down on as much as possible as it pushes potential crime/drugs problems into Norfolk and Cambridgeshire (even the DAT hint at this in their papers!)
Also the council, cops, NHS, social landlords etc do work together and share all sorts of info. there are rules about personal data but if there is a pattern of problems developing it does seem to be dealt with.
there are smackheads and hookers (it is a sea port area) but they seem to be quite old TBH and confined to certain areas.
There is also a lot more positive stuff like community centres, leisure facilities round here, and a bit less violent juvenile crime. of course kids still nick stuff but there are only a handful of robberies of pissed people in dodgy areas of town like anywhere else.
The main “crime” problem is car theft and gary boys speeding near the car park. however the cops use all the high-tech stuff on them and on Monday I always see the black rats driving around in Volvo estates visiting peoples homes to warn them about their driving and that they will lose their license and their motor if they are caught again. there is some new law as well that you can lose your license even for non-motoring offences now!
Also I get the impression there are only large populations of young people in Ipswich, Needham Market and Lowestoft.
Everywhere else is full of OAPs half of whom can barely walk to the shops, let alone get too involved in crime (some do though, East Anglia has some of the oldest people on ASBO!)
I don’t know what to make of this place TBH. Its “nicer” than Reading (or even Norfolk or Cambridgeshire) but seems more like an “uneasy peace” than paradise. It appears that this peace clearly has been achieved at the expense of some freedoms.
There is also a big problem with domestic violence here that isn’t mentioned – I fear when people get busted on minor stuff they pass the pain across to those close to them.
I think the reason that there are fewer ASBOs here is the pressure is kept up on people so they get busted for real crime instead!
harrasment shouldnt be tolerated. but alarm and distress? surely that means damien hursts work should earn him an asbo? or most late night telly? what about saying “boo” to a pensioner? isnt that alarming? what a mess asbos are making of our laws.
cough coubullshitgh cough
so you can get thrown in jail for saying boo or making art. yippeefuckingdoo.
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Forums › Life › Politics, Media & Current Events › Rate of Suffolk Asbos
