Antisocial behaviour (ASB)

Tackling anti-social behaviour is a key element in the work the Council does to help reduce the fear of crime.

Report anti-social behaviour

You can report anti-social behaviour using the online form below:

Anti-social behaviour form

Alternatively, contact Community Safety.

What is classed as anti-social behaviour?

The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 defines anti-social behaviour as behaving in a manner that causes or is likely to cause harassment, alarm, distress to one or more persons not of the same household as himself. This could include:

Threats, intimidation and violence towards residents and passers-by
Verbal abuse
Criminal damage
Noise nuisance
Substance misuse
Neighbour noise nuisance
Joy-riding
Begging
Vehicle related nuisance
Smoking or drinking alcohol under age and/or in non designated areas
Throwing missiles
Vandalism
Graffiti
Groups of rowdy youths
Racism
Abandoned vehicles.

The Community Safety team works very closely with Thames Valley Police, Housing Associations, the Council's Housing and Environmental Services teams, schools, the County's Youth Service and Youth offending Service(YOS) and Parish Councils to tackle anti-social behaviour.

This may include working with the Police to issue Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABCs) and Anti-social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) which can help to effectively address these problems and can be obtained on several grounds.

What is an Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABC)?

An ABC is an informal agreement between a person responsible for antisocial behaviour and the Police and partners e.g. housing association etc. The perpetrator is requested to sign a contract stating that they will not take part in specific activities for six months. The partners may conduct a second interview at the 3-4 month stage to remind the person of the contract and offer support.

If the perpetrator adheres to the agreement a final interview will provide the appropriate feedback and no more action is taken.

What happens if the contract is broken?
If the perpetrator breaches the ABC, the partners invite him or her to another interview to remind them of the contract.

In all cases they will have been warned that a breach of the ABC may be used as evidence for an ASBO or other legal inervention. In some cases, where the person is a housing association tenant, a breach may lead to an eviction order as this is also a breach of their tenancy contract.

What are Anti-social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs)?
These are civil orders that exist to protect the public from anti-social behaviour. An ASBO is the last stage of the process to tackle antisocial behaviour after warning letters, mediation, ABCs and other relevant interventions have failed to stop the behaviour. An ASBO is valid for a minimum of two years. If the perpetrator breaches an ASBO they may be arrested with a maximum prison sentence of five years.

How are they both used?
Following reports of antisocial behaviour in a specific area, the Council and Police ask the complainant to provide incident reports to help identify the person/people responsible.

Once those responsible are identified, options of how to deal with the incidents are agreed.

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