On top of big cuts to neighbourhood police, the Government now want to weaken police powers to fight anti-social behaviour.

Instead of protecting victims, the Home Secretary plans to water down ASBOs so that someone who keeps ignoring police warnings, court orders and injunctions to stop terrorising the local area will no longer be guilty of a crime.

The Government plans to introduce the Community Trigger, which gives people the right to demand that police deal with anti-social behaviour if an incident is reported by at least five people or any three complaints by the same person.

However victims who complain three times will only have the right to a review, and this is just the minimum requirement with the authorities able to wait much longer before taking further action if they choose to. The statistics from the Government’s own pilot scheme in Manchester, Brighton and Richmond show that of 44,011 antisocial behaviour incidents, the Trigger was only successfully activated 13 times.

They are also making it harder to use CCTV cameras by introducing more red tape at a cost of £14 million, money that could have been used to pay for 400 extra police officers.

Their plans don’t offer proper support for victims of repeated harassment and there are too many loopholes to let offenders off without proper punishment if police resources are tight.

They need to rethink these policies as we need stronger action against crime instead of their weak approach. People in the Rother Valley want to know that if they are a victim of crime, or if they are being regularly harassed by yobs on their street, that the police will have the power to act as quickly and efficiently as possible.

 Well said, Kevin ! 

Of course the easiest way to get away from the “yobs” on the street that he speaks of is …

sell up and move out. Somewhere like the Peak District has a lower crime rate than for example, Maltby.

If you can’t move and can’t afford cctv cameras or other security measures for where you live  (and the local police can’t afford it either) then just have a word with Shaun Wright, our Police and Crime Commissioner for South Yorkshire. Think he knows how to get grants etc for such things. http://www.southyorkshire-pcc.gov.uk

Alternatively, speak to our Dep Leader of Rotherham Council, Cllr Jahangir Akhtar (locally known as “ASBO” ) for first hand info. http://jahangirakhtar.org