Mary Welcomes Tough Action on Anti-Social Behaviour

Wakefield MP Mary Creagh has welcomed the announcement of tough new measures to tackle anti-social behaviour in Wakefield.  Home Secretary Alan Johnson has written to Wakefield Council and West Yorkshire Police setting out the measures available to them to stamp out yobbish behaviour in our communities.   

The Home Office is to set tough new targets to make sure the police and councils respond properly to anti-social behaviour.  There will also be minimum standards of behaviour for people in social housing which social landlords will have to enforce.  Victim support services will be extended to those affected by anti-social behaviour.  There will be more use of dispersal orders and more prosecutions of people who breach their ASBOs.  Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships will record and respond to every instance of anti-social behaviour and tell each victim what is being done.   

Mary Creagh, MP for Wakefield said: “I sent out 10 000 surveys on anti-social behaviour this summer and have had over a thousand replies from people in Wakefield.  I know that people are concerned about youth disorder and groups of young people just hanging around on the streets.  I have passed the results of the survey to Chief Superintendent Mark Callaghan and his team.  Our local policing teams are doing a fantastic job in tackling anti-social behaviour where it does occur.  We want to prevent yobbish behaviour from happening at all, but where it does occur we will make sure that victims are supported and perpetrators brought to book with the full force of the law.”