Thousands of people use anti-social behaviour reporting line to make their voices heard
Released: 7 November 2007
Wolverhampton residents are playing an important part in the effort to tackle anti-social behaviour in the city after making thousands of calls to a reporting line since its launch last year.
The Safer Wolverhampton Partnership, made up of Wolverhampton City Council, West Midlands Police and other key organisations, launched the ‘It’s Your Call’ line on 31 July 2006, in order to make reporting incidents as simple as possible.
A total of 7,890 calls were received in its first year - up until August 2007 - with over 750 more in September and almost 720 in October this year. The calls go directly to City Direct - the council’s contact centre - and the information is passed to the appropriate agency to respond.
People are urged to use the 01902 551188 number to report anti-social behaviour - defined as acting in ‘a manner that causes, or is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress’ in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.
Councillor Elias Mattu, Wolverhampton City Council’s Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods and Community Safety, said: “The response to the ‘It’s Your Call’ line since its launch has been great and shows that both residents and key organisations will not accept anti-social behaviour in Wolverhampton.
“The line is helping to improve lives by enabling complaints to be addressed more quickly and providing a more accurate picture of the nature and scale of anti-social behaviour in Wolverhampton.
“It is also helping to improve information sharing among agencies involved in tackling anti-social behaviour so that they can work together more effectively.”
Complaints have been responded to by a variety of agencies including Wolverhampton City Council’s Environmental Services Team, Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) Unit and Wardens Service, Wolverhampton Homes and West Midlands Police.
More than a third of the complaints received in the reporting line’s first year were on fly-tipping, with the next largest percentages relating to abandoned vehicles and noise.
Calls breakdown by type of anti-social behaviour:
- Flytipping - 2935 calls (37% of total calls)
- Abandoned vehicles - 1121 calls (14% of total calls)
- Noise - 1114 calls (14% of total calls)
- Filthy persons and premises - 754 calls (10% of total calls)
- Nuisance/gangs - 376 calls (5% of total calls)
- Animal welfare - 316 (4% of calls
- Neighbour disputes - 314 (4% of calls)
- Dog fouling - persistent offenders - 210 calls (3% of total)
- Traveller incursions - 189 calls (2% of total calls)
- Odours - 130 (2% of total calls)
- High hedges - 122 calls (2% of total calls)
The further three per cent is made up of complaints on a range of matters including intimidation and harassment, criminal damage, prostitution, arson and vehicle related nuisance such as the use of mini-motos.
Responses vary from case to case and examples of action taken are:
- Successful applications for Anti-Social Behaviour Orders to tackle behaviour including verbal abuse, intimidation and criminal damage. Between August 2006 and August 2007, 12 Anti-Social Behaviour Orders were successfully granted by Wolverhampton Magistrates Court after applications from the city council’s Anti-social Behaviour Unit. Currently more than 100 active Anti-Social Behaviour Orders are in force across Wolverhampton
- Support and intervention for offenders of anti-social behaviour such as the use of Acceptable Behaviour Contracts and parenting support
- Additional patrols by police and wardens where possible and appropriate.
The line, which is part of the ‘It’s Your Call’ Home Office initiative, is staffed from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday, from 9am to 2pm on Saturdays and from 10am to 4pm on Bank Holidays except for Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
People are asked to try and keep a diary of the anti-social behaviour that takes place in their area and make a note of the dates, times, and the people involved, if possible, as this will help to tackle the problem more effectively.
It is not an emergency or immediate response number. In emergencies people should still call 999 and for other criminal or specifically police matters use the 0845 113 5000 police number.
Issued by the press office.