14 October 2003
Prime Minister Tony Blair today encouraged the police, housing officers and local authorities to use new powers to tackle anti-social behaviour.
A recent Home Office study found that there were over 66,000 reports of anti-social behaviour in a single day in September. Mr Blair said it was the issue of most concern to people in the visits he had made around the UK over the past year.
"The same things come up time and again," he said. "A tiny number of people on an estate of hundreds making people’s lives a misery: shouted insults in the street, graffiti daubed on the front-door, fireworks used as weapons, abandoned cars left in the streets."
The Prime Minister said that although much of the activity is criminal, an attempt to prosecute would result in a lengthy court process, red tape and would only result in a minor sentence.
He said the new powers to deal with problems like nuisance neighbours and abandoned cars would bring "swift, summary action" to offenders. In areas where fixed penalty fines were piloted, the only complaint from police was that the powers weren’t wide enough, he said.
"It’s not acceptable for these powers to be used in some parts of the country and not others. Loutish behaviour is loutish behaviour wherever it is. And it should be dealt with in the same way wherever it happens.
"Take fireworks. The abuse of fireworks is not just a safety issue, particularly for children, but too many families say it blights their lives and the lives of those around them. That is why we are bringing forward urgent regulations to limit the sale and use of fireworks across the country."
In closing Mr Blair said:
"I am an optimist. I believe in progress. I believe that the thousands of acts of individual decency each day outweigh the acts of anti-social behaviour. But it’s time to stop a small anti-social minority setting the rules."
Home Secretary David Blunkett announced earlier this month that there are a record 136,386 police officers in service. There has also beena 25 per cent drop in crime since 1997 according to the British Crime Survey.
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