Sussex Police: Residents praise new way of tackling anti social behaviour

September 17, 2012, 9:15 am

Anti-social behaviour, disorder and neighbourhood disputes in and around the Pankhurst Avenue area of Brighton, were taking up a considerable amount of local officers time and greatly affecting the lives of the majority of people who live there. But a recent joint agency approach that involves local residents has seen a decrease in reports of anti social behaviour and a real improvement within the community.

PC Jimmy Conway from Brighton Neighbourhood Police Team said “We have taken a joint agency approach that includes housing officers, community safety teams, mental health and youth sport intervention workers all getting together on a regular basis to problem solve and tackle a vast number of issues in the area. For example, we have had problems with local youths who lacked direction and found that boredom was a significant factor in their bad behaviour. Through our joint agency contacts we secured parenting support and youth sports intervention to take on an early intervention route. Officers have changed shifts to attend community meetings and stay on past contracted hours if late night issues are reported.

“Officers also now spend as much time in the community as possible – engaging with residents to find out what they feel they need to improve their lives and reduce the fear of crime. All of this is fed back into the joint agency groups that meet every three months and we then try to come up with a tailored solution that will hopefully have long term benefits for the community.

View full article on Crime And Justice

Mrs Lucas, Resident of Pankhurst Avenue said: “In the past we have had problems on the estate. Young people used to regularly congregate on the streets and behave antisocially. Over the last three years or so this has changed. Relations with police have improved with the help of our PCSO Flo Woods and together with local service providers supporting the Haven Community Centre, residents have got to know each other better and now value their community.”

Anonymous resident from Hallett Road: “The area has changed so much due to police, PCSOs and the councils help. We now live in a calm and peaceful street.”

The National Crime stats database shows around a 50% reduction in overall crime and anti-social behaviour since April 2011 in the Pankhurst area of Brighton