Force tells council: we can’t deal with most anti-social behaviour

ESSEX Police has written to councils to say officers will be attending fewer anti-social behaviour cases because of cuts.

Assistant Chief Constable Julia Wortley wrote to all local authorities across the county to explain that 97% of ASB calls assessed as low and medium risk – such as dog fouling, litter dropping or noise complaints – will not be attended by a police officer.

The letter highlighted the pressures on police finances in the face of cuts to spending budgets.

It read: “Police finances have come under the same pressures over the last five years as those of local authorities.

“For Essex Police those pressures have been made more acute because funding per head on policing in the county is below average compared with other police forces in England and Wales.”

There were 56,506 incidents of ASB recorded in Essex between April 1 last year and 31 March 2015.

Of these, only 1,500 were assessed as high risk by Essex Police.

Therefore this increased demand on services is “exacerbating the financial challenge” faced by Essex Police.

Despite saving £72.5 million since 2010, the force needs to find a further £60 million over the next five years.

The force says that this 97% of incidents that are low or medium risk has created an “unsustainable” demand on resources and “jeopardises the quality of our response to high risk cases and to other emergencies”, according to ACC Julia Wortley.

A spokesman for Essex Police said: “ACC Wortley’s letter to local authorities was clear in stating that only 3% of the calls relating to anti-social behaviour received by Essex Police are classed as “high risk”.

“It would be wrong to infer from this that we have stopped officers attending any other anti-social behaviour incident.

“Anti-social behaviour can cause damage to communities and individuals ranging from annoyance to serious physical or mental distress.

“With the resources we have available, we need to prioritise the 1,500 calls a year where there are high risks through repeated anti-social incidents, to vulnerable people, or people being specifically targeted through harassment or serious nuisance.

“A response from uniformed officers to every report of anti-social behaviour isn’t necessary but it’s also not possible.

“Local authorities and the police have shared responsibility to tackle anti-social behaviour in our communities and we don’t believe the public would want uniformed officers responding to issues like dog fouling, litter or noise nuisance.

“When residents report those issues we will usually refer to partner organisations better placed to deal with the incident.”

The letter goes on to state that the force’s focus will be on incidents of ASB where:

• Vulnerability and/or a high risk of threat or harm is identified;

• Repeat locations are identified and cause a high risk of threat or harm to a person or community;

• An offender is identified who requires police intervention to manage their behaviour;

• A repeat victim is identified who require a supportive package to be put in place by police.

Mark Smith, Chairman of Essex Police Federation, said: “I think it’s a call that has to be made. It needs a change of expectations by everybody either because as police officers we’re used to always attending these calls, and the public are used to us always attending the calls.

“We cannot do it any longer. Maybe we’ve been doing it in the past when really we shouldn’t have been, and these other agencies should have been doing it anyway.

“But we were where we were, these other agencies now need to start stepping up to the plate and dealing with their own problems because it’s not a police issue unfortunately. It’s not a police matter and we’re having to be quite blunt about it now.”