Be Informed and Know Your Rights
ASB Awareness Week is organised by RESOLVE, who are a Centre of Excellence solely focussed upon community safety and ASB. Members of the South Essex Homes Executive Management Team also sit on the RESOLVE Board, so as an organisation we are committed to promoting messages relating to this important topic.
RESOLVE’s key messages for this year’s ASB Awareness Week are aimed at dispelling myths about ASB so here are a few facts we have taken from their website:
ASB is not low-level, it devastates the lives of victims and communities and can be a precursor to more serious crime.
YouGov research commissioned by RESOLVE shows that almost 1 in 7 people have had to consider moving home because of the impact anti-social behaviour was having on them.
Despite the harm ASB is causing, many victims and witnesses do not report it.
A staggering 51% of ASB victims and witnesses surveyed did not make a report because they ‘didn’t think anything would be done’. 15% said they did not know how to report ASB or where they would turn to do so.
Young people are often seen as the main perpetrators of ASB - we need to bust this myth.
Young people are not the main perpetrators of anti-social behaviour; adults are. In fact, young people are often the silent victims of ASB. Groups of youths hanging out in public spaces are often perceived to be causing trouble/ASB, but we'd like people to consider 'What harm is actually being done here (if any)?' and 'why are youths hanging out here in large groups?'. Could it be that they don't know where else to go and that being in a larger group helps young people to feel safe? One of our goals for ASBAW23 is to improve public understanding of ASB while also signposting young people to places they can go to chill out, have fun, learn skills and be themselves.
Victims do not know what to do if they are unsatisfied with the handling of their case.
The Community Trigger, now called the ASB Case Review was introduced in the 2014 Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act for victims who have reported ASB but are unhappy with the response or lack thereof.
As noted in the 2021/2022 Victim’s Commissioner’s Annual Report “It empowers a victim to bring agencies together to commit to purposeful action to bring an end to repeat ASB. It can represent the best hope for victims to escape their nightmare. But it remains poorly promoted and underutilised.”
This is highlighted by further research commissioned by RESOLVE, which shows that 9 years after its introduction, just 6% of people have heard of the ASB Case Review, and only 2% of people fully understand how it works.
Find out more about requesting an ASB Case Review in Southend here: The Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) Case Review Process – Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour – Southend-on-Sea City Council