Liberal Democrats bringing crime down in the East Midlands

This week's Queen Speech will take further action to tackle anti-social behaviour in the East Midlands. The news comes as figures reveal that the number of incidents of anti-social behaviour in the East Midlands has already fallen by 90,000 since the Coalition Government came to power thanks to measures supported by the Liberal Democrats.

The Anti-Social Behaviour Bill will build on the Coalition Government's already impressive record on tackling crime and supporting victims by ending Labour's discredited ASBOs, which became a rite of passage among some young offenders and were routinely breached by them.

Among other measures, the new legislation will introduce a Community Trigger, ensuring communities can trigger investigations if they have not been dealt with properly up to that point, and a Community Remedy which will give victims of low-level crime and anti-social behaviour a say in the punishment of the offender once they've admitted guilt.

Commenting Bill Newton Dunn MEP said:

"Liberal Democrats want to create a stronger economy in a fairer society. That can only be achieved if our communities feel safe and able to go about their daily business.

"That's why tackling anti-social behaviour is so important to me and my colleagues. Labour used to talk tough on anti-social behaviour but their record showed a continued failure to deliver safer communities: more than half of their flagship ASBOs were breached.

"Involving the community in punishing anti-social behaviour is shown to be effective and can transform how we deal with such behaviour. Liberal Democrats have introduced these measures to great effect at a local level and will now oversee introducing these proven measures across England."

The Facts

1. According to the National Audit Office, over half of ASBOs were breached under Labour: http://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2006/12/060799.pdf

2. Liberal Democrats in Somerset introduced Neighbourhood Justice Panels, which ensured that 95% of offenders were turned away from further crimes. Other areas where such panels were effective include Sheffield and Norfolk.

3. Labour had a fragmented, complicated approach to tackle the problem of anti-social behaviour. This has created unnecessary expense and bureaucracy, and inhibits police officers, preventing them from carrying out their job as effectively as possible.

• At present, there are 19 specific powers open to the police to confront anti-social behaviour. Under Labour, there have been ISOs, ABCs, ASBIs, ASBOs and CRASBOs, along with dog control orders, graffiti removal orders, noise abatement orders, parenting orders and many more.
• The Coalition Government is streamlining the tools available to police officers and local authorities, reducing the number of powers from 19 to just six, so that our response to anti-social behaviour is simpler and more effective.

4. The provisions in the Bill have benefitted from pre-legislative scrutiny by the Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC), which confirmed that the proposals had the broad support of ASB practitioners.