Anti-social behaviour

Anti-social behaviour (ASB) is defined in the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 and Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011. It states 'Behaviour by a person which causes or is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not of the same household as the person'.

Types of anti-social behaviour:

• Fly-tipping
• Graffiti
• Abandoned cars
• Verbal or racial abuse
• Drug dealing or misuse
• Vandalism
• Act in a manner that causes harassment, distress or alarm to others
• Act in an intimidating manner as part of a large group.

The Community Safety partners work together to reduce anti-social behaviour through a Joint Action Group (JAG).

There are three ways to report anti-social behaviour:

• contact the police on 101
• complete our send a message form or email community.safety@iow.gov.uk
• in an emergency, call 999.

There are three ways to report hate crime:

• call police on 101
• visit True Vision
• attend a third-party reporting centre at IOW Citizen's Advice Bureau.

Community Trigger is a process victims can use to ask agencies to review their response to anti-social behaviour. It can only be used if their case has been closed and they are not satisfied with the outcome.

You can use Community Trigger if:

• you have reported three separate incidents in the past six months to the police, your housing provider or ourselves and feel no action has been taken
• five individuals in a local community have separately reported similar incidents.

You can activate it on behalf of someone else if you have their written consent.

If your case meets this criteria you will be notified within seven working days. Your case will be reviewed by agencies with relevant information shared and you will be updated throughout the process.

Community Trigger is designed to ensure that there is a review where incidents have been reported and no action has been taken. It is not a complaints procedure.

We will endeavour to deal with your case within 20 working days, more complex cases may take longer.

Call the Police 101 number. Notify the call handler you wish to raise a Community Trigger. They will note all the details about your case and pass this to us. We will make direct contact with you using the details you have provided. View the local Community Trigger policy PDF (221KB, 8 pages).

As of June 2022, Community Trigger has been activated six times:

• the number of cases where the threshold for review was not met – four
• the number of case reviews carried out – two
• the number of case reviews resulting in recommendations – two.

This list details tools to support with anti-social behaviour related cases:

• victims and witnesses of persistent ASB are encouraged to keep a diary; use this sample diary (PDF, 108KB, 3 pages)
• read about the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act