The Prime Minister today announced further measures to deal with anti-social behaviour.
"He said that the success of dealing with anti-social behaviour could now be extended to other parts of the country".
Read the Prime Minister’s full speech below:
I am passionate about tackling ASB in our communities. It is about respect for other people. It’s about decency. It’s about hard-working families who play by the rules not suffering from those that don’t. It’s everything that strong communities should stand for, protecting the vulnerable, sticking up for what is right.
When I first started agitating over the issue of ASB, there was some scepticism in the Westminster village and much mockery. But my concerns arose directly out of talking to people in communities the length and breadth of Britain whose problems weren’t with the well-trodden political causes Parliament was debating, but were right outside their own front door. They felt, at worst, in real fear; and at best, angry and outraged that they were losing control of their own community and with it their quality of life.
Almost exactly a year ago I launched the Together Campaign. I believe it was an important moment for this Government and important for communities across the country.
What the last year has shown is that slowly but surely, in our cities, towns and countryside, communities are seizing this opportunity. And it is your efforts which are helping turn the tide.
Hazel has already given you the facts and figures - like 2,600 ASBOs in the last year alone - double the amount awarded altogether in the previous four years and over 400 dispersal orders; 150 crack house closure orders and at least 100,000 ASB cases dealt with in the last year.
The scourge of anti-social behaviour affects us all and in our biggest cities, on surburban estates and rural villages.
We all know the consequences. People too frightened to go into the city centre at night. Anxious about leaving their homes to go down to the local shops. Terrorised by unruly neighbours.
Previously, the police, councils and courts had felt their hands were tied when it came to tackling this anti-social behaviour.
The result was that over the years, the tiny minority of louts responsible for it, came to think they were untouchable, above the law.
I wasn’t prepared to let that continue. And neither was David Blunkett or this Government. And I know that many of you here - and thousands like you - felt the same.
Of course, we need, as a society to give opportunity to our young people. Youth unemployment has been dramatically reduced, education and training opportunities improved with increased investment making a difference in our most deprived neighbourhoods. We are making extra investment in youth services, in extending after-school clubs, in providing places for youngsters to go.
But, in return, for the increased opportunities and help we have offered, society, too, has a right to demand that everyone keeps to their side of the bargain - to behave properly and to ensure effective action against those who refuse to do so.
Thanks to the hard work of many people and organisations, crime has fallen 30 per cent since 1997 and the chances of becoming a victim of crime are at a 20-year low.
But on ASB, we knew we had to go further. We listened to communities, to police officers, to councils and courts about what the problems were and what could be done about it.
The result was a tough package of measures to give the police, housing officers, local authorities and courts the powers to tip the balance firmly in favour of the law-abiding majority.
But these new powers were just the first step. The challenge I gave you last year was to make sure you used them.
You have risen to that challenge in a hugely impressive way. And I want to thank you all.
Behind each of the statistics are real communities and real people - finally given some respite from years of harassment and abuse.
I’ve met many of them over the past year and a half.
The residents of the Blackthorn Estate in Northampton who I met in September last year like Yvette West who was brave enough to stand up against the perpetrators to give evidence for an ASBO.
Or the people of Prentice Place in Harlow like PC Rick Jones and Marysia [Mar-it-sia] Rudgley who I met at the end of August this year who told me how pleased they were with the impact of the local dispersal order - the first of its kind in the country.
Or the residents of Norfolk Square in Brighton I met last month who have cleared aggressive street drinkers and drug users from their square and returned it to the local community.
Or the residents of Sidmouth Mews in Camden who have taken a stand against youth disorder on their estate and set up a club to keep kids off the street.
Under the leadership of Dame Jane Roberts, Camden is just one of the councils - like Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield and Birmingham - which have been true trail-blazers in tackling ASB.
And I want to pay particular tribute to the role that the staff of local authorities have played in all of this.
Whether they were dedicated anti-social behaviour co-ordinators or not, the staff were as passionately committed to getting to grips with these problems as their police colleagues.
And all - police, council officials and local residents - should be proud of the difference they are making.
Take the Little London estate in Leeds where robberies fell 48 per cent and car theft by 72 per cent after 66 ASBOs were taken out against known dealers and hangers-on.
Or the Dee Park Estate in Reading where crime has fallen 25 per cent since ASBOs were taken out against local youths terrorising the area.
I am pleased that 50 per cent of Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships have dedicated ASB teams - but I am worried about those communities who don’t.
I am pleased that many give some help to victims but concerned that one in four do not.
Until action is taken in every community where it is needed, we can’t rest.
From today we need to set even higher standards.
I promise, in return, that we in Government won’t sit back either. We will offer you more help and support so we can free every community from fear.
That means three key priorities for phase two of our Together campaign.
First we must continue to rebalance the system to protect victims and witnesses.
We recognise that giving evidence in such cases can be every bit as traumatic as facing your attacker in serious crime trials.
So earlier this week, Charlie Falconer announced we will be extending the protection of vulnerable witnesses to those giving evidence in civil proceedings relating to Anti-Social Behaviour Orders.
As soon as possible, we want vulnerable witnesses to be able to give their evidence by video link or from behind protective screens.
Second, fast-track justice. Loutish behaviour needs to be punished when it happens - not months later.
So we will triple the number of special courts to fast-track ASB cases with dedicated prosecutors and trained magistrates and court staff ensuring swifter justice and better care for victims.
Fixed Penalty Notices have saved thousands of hours in court and police time, enabling officers to be in their communities deterring and catching criminals.
We want to expand the range of offences for which they can be issued and extend the range of local agencies that can join the fight against disorder.
Local communities know best about the problems of anti-social behaviour. So we need to give more power to people to help them tackle it.
So I can announce today that we will change the law as soon as we can to allow parish and town councils, working effectively with local authorities in urban as well as rural areas, new powers to deal with anti-social behaviour. This will include, for example allowing them to levy Fixed Penalty Notices for litter and graffiti or for noise nuisance.
Third, a return to community policing.
Ask any member of the public about the best defence against anti-social behaviour and they’ll have no doubts about the answer.
Dedicated patrol staff, in uniform, walking the streets who know their patch and take pride in what they do.
We want every community that needs it to have this sort of dedicated neighbourhood policing team.
Already we have record police numbers. 12,500 more than there were in 1997 and created an entirely new category of police staff - the community support officer - to support them in reassuring the public.
In London, nearly 100 wards already have their own neighbourhood team.
In Liverpool neighbourhood policing has already been built into the work of the whole force.
Over the next four years our new Neighbourhood Policing Fund will provide the resources for 20,000 more Community Support Officers to roll out neighbourhood policing teams far more widely.
For too long, the selfish minority have had it all their own way. That’s changing. The fight-back against the criminals, the louts and the nuisance neighbours is well underway.
The new powers we have given communities are making a difference. Where they are being used most effectively they are beginning to make a big difference.
But we need more communities to use these powers relentlessly - like you are doing - to lift this shadow from the lives of decent families.
For the first time in decades, communities are beginning to believe they can turn the tide.
A cautious optimism is replacing resignation. A new confidence in place of a damaging hopelessness.
Thank you for all you have done. But you know as well as I do, that we have much more to do.
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