The Southampton Federation of Residents’ Associations meeting in October was devoted to antisocial behaviour. Many residents are feeling helpless to stem the tide of vandalism, muggings, car thefts, damage, noise and threatening incidents. Councillor Mizon, who has the Communities and Regeneration portfolio said that dealing with this problem was one of the first priorities of the new administration. A Task Group had produced a strategy document over the summer. She stressed that the Council cannot deal with this problem alone; there is an African saying “It takes a village to bring up a child.”
A member of the audience said that people would not be prepared to give evidence until they could do so anonymously and so know that they would not be beaten up. Inspector Norman replied that the problem for the police was how to get the evidence into court. Antisocial Behaviour Orders are made in the civil court where statements can be used as evidence. The downside is that the civil court costs a lot of money.
How we can help:
When people are causing damage, intimidating or verbally abusing people or committing a minor criminal offence on every occasion report to the police on 0845 0454545. If speedy action could result in someone being caught for a crime, do not feel diffident about dialling 999.
If people are causing a nuisance contact the City Council’s Actionline 0800 5191919.
For noisy neighbours call 8083 2531.