Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) – the policing ‘Watchdog’ for forces in England and Wales – suggests the police service has made progress on stamping out antisocial actions perpetrated by members of society but one third of victims are still dissatisfied with their performance.
Back in 2010, HMIC called for a new approach to how forces tackled this issue based on ‘what works’ and focused on the needs of the millions of antisocial behaviour victims across England and Wales. The report ‘A Step in the Right Direction: the Policing of Antisocial Behaviour’ fulfils that promise.
However, there appears to be a significant variation in victim satisfaction levels across England and Wales. It would appear that more can be done to tackle this issue, and to identify those victims most at risk of harm.
More needs to be done
Javed Khan, CEO at Victim Support, commented: “Although HMIC’s report shows that the police have improved in supporting victims of antisocial behaviour, they cannot be complacent – more needs to be done. It takes a lot of courage for victims to call the police and they need to know they’ll receive a high level of support and be kept in the loop about their case.”
Khan added: “It’s unacceptable that some police forces are lagging behind others. It would be in the best interests of both victims and the police for proven approaches of ‘what works’ to actually be delivered. We would be happy to work with the police to share our expertise and build on the improvements shown in this report.”
The Home Office said planned changes to confusing laws would help officers really tackle the problem.
The assessment comes two years after the HMIC published a highly-critical report of how the 43 forces in England and Wales were handling requests to deal with antisocial behaviour.
In total, the police service has received around 3.2 million reports relating to antisocial behaviour in the past year.
What’s ACPO’s view of the world?
ACPO’s lead for anti-social behaviour, deputy chief constable Simon Edens, has also responded to HMIC’s report.
“It’s encouraging that Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary has found that the police service has improved its response to victims of antisocial behaviour since the last thematic inspection two years ago. This report shows that 84% victims are satisfied with the action taken by police in response to calls about antisocial behaviour.”
Edens feels that while this report recognises the improvements that all forces have made, there’s still some work to be done to ensure that police officers and staff ask the right questions of victims such that they can identify if someone is vulnerable or has been victimised before.
“Chief officers recognise that all individuals and communities have a right to live their lives free from intimidation and harassment,” urged Edens. “Together with our partners in other agencies and the communities we serve, we will be looking at this report, and the results of the recent call handling pilots in eight force areas, to further improve our response to victims of antisocial behaviour.”
…and what does the Police Federation think?
Simon Reed, vice-chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said: “This report shows the excellent work being done by police officers across the country to tackle antisocial behaviour and the improvements implemented in recent years. It also shows there is room for further improvement, through sharing good practice and initiatives.”
Reed explained: “Anti-social behaviour blights many peoples’ lives and we must ensure that it remains a priority for policing. However, cuts to the policing budget will mean that chief officers will have very difficult decisions to make about priorities and deployment of resources as police numbers continue to fall.”
Over 10,000 sign petition to protect help for victims and witnesses
Around 11,500 people have now signed a petition asking the Government to reconsider controversial proposals in its consultation ‘Getting it right for Victims and Witnesses’.
Research conducted by Victim Support shows that at least GB pound 21 million of help for victims could be wasted if plans to hand control of budgets to Police and Crime Commissioners go ahead. “This means the proposed changes are not in the best interests of victims and witnesses” states Victim Support.
The petition signatures have been collected offline and online. There’s still time to register concern as the e-petition remains open until 18 July. Victim Support is also accepting paper signatures at any of its registered offices.
An Early Day Motion tabled in the Houses of Parliament to support the cause now enjoys 22 MPs’ signatures from a range of political parties. It’s being led by Liberal Democrat MP Sir Bob Russell.
“The growing number of people who have signed our petition and the growing number of MPs who are highlighting this cause prove there’s widespread support for our concerns,” asserted Javed Khan.
“Anyone could be a victim of crime, so it’s in all of our interests to ask the Government to think again. We currently have a gold standard of victims and witnesses services in this country. Why break up what works and risk leaving victims and witnesses without the excellent support that they need and deserve?”
