Anti-social behaviour
To find
out more about what we're doing to tackle anti-social behaviour in
your area sign up for our ASB e-bulletin.
Simply email us at ASB.News@towerhamlets.gov.uk
with 'e-bulletin' in the subject line.
Anti-social behaviour (ASB) is a term which covers a range of
issues from serious violence and harassment to more everyday
incidents and situations like noisy dogs or rubbish
dumping. The definition of ASB is “Any activity that causes
alarm, distress or harassment to the individual or the
community”.
ASB includes the following:
- all types of harassment including verbal and physical abuse and
threats, whatever the motivation
- racial and other kinds of harassment motivated by someone’s
age, disability, faith or sexual orientation (which is known as
hate crime)
- drug misuse, alcohol-related nuisance and prostitution
- vandalism, graffiti and damage to property
- noise nuisance at high levels, unreasonable hours or continuous
environmental health issues
- other nuisance like dumping rubbish, dog fouling, uncontrolled
pets, car repairs, dangerous parking and abandoned cars.
We want everyone to enjoy living, working and visiting in Tower
Hamlets, feeling safe and confident.
The council believes that nobody should have to live with
anti-social behaviour and is committed to working in partnership
with safer neighbourhood teams and other statutory partners,
voluntary and private sector organisations, and most importantly,
local people, to deal with ASB wherever it occurs across Tower
Hamlets.
The ASB minimum standards
outline the service that you can expect from us and our partners
when dealing with anti-social behaviour.Click here
for a copy of the Minimum Standards.
ASB minimum standards
The ASB minimum standards outline the service that you can
expect to receive from the council and our partners when dealing
with anti-social behaviour.
Reporting anti-social behaviour
Report it! We can only deal with
anti-social behaviour if we know about it.
You do not have to be a council tenant to make a report. Anyone
living, working or visiting in Tower Hamlets can report ASB to the
council’s community safety service, however tenants should report
ASB to their landlords in the first instance.
We take a balanced approach to reports of serious anti-social
behaviour, and use a number of tools established by the Crime &
Disorder Act 1998 and the ASB Act 2003 to deal with ASB. You can
read about enforcement
tools here.
How to report
ASB
Help us to help you: if you experience anti-social
behaviour:
The council aims to make it as easy as possible for Tower
Hamlets residents to report anti-social behaviour. The council
takes harassment and anti-social behaviour very seriously and
understands that it is a sensitive and emotive issue.
The council is aware that sometimes victims of ASB do not report
incidents that happen in Tower Hamlets for fear of reprisal or due
to the difficulties of language barriers. Victims are often
reluctant to talk about their experiences and the council
encourages them to report any incidents in a secure and
confidential manner.
The council has highly experienced staff who can support you
throughout the reporting process and the anti-social behaviour
investigation. The council also has language support officers to
help you if you experience any language barriers. For more
information on this, please refer to the section on the language support team.
What happens when I make a report?
- Once received by the Community Safety Service your complaint
will be assessed and allocated to the appropriate Investigation
Officer (please see complaint categories below).
- You will be contacted by a dedicated community safety customer
services officer who will take further information from you
regarding your complaint. The officer will then inform you of who
your investigation officer will be.
- An initial statement will be taken from you by your
investigation officer.
- Once evidence is gathered the victim/complainant, any witnesses
and the perpetrator will be interviewed.
- The investigation process may include surveillance, the
installation of security equipment, working with the safer
neighbourhoods teams, legal team and any other relevant
agencies.
- There will be a decision on the action to be taken.
- Possible action taken. These may take form of warning letters,
injunctions, acceptable behaviour contracts (ABC’s), anti-social
behaviour orders (ASBO’s), parenting contract, mediation, demotion
orders or notice of seeking possession (NOSP).
Complaints regarding the below are dealt with by the community
safety service
- serious damage to council property
- attack on the person (leading to physical Injury)
- domestic violence
- drug dealing
- threatening behaviour & / or verbal abuse (not leading to
actual bodily assault)
- prostitution
- hate crimes
- noise from businesses
- youth or gang violence
Complaints regarding the below are dealt with by your local
service centre
- drug/substance abuse
- uncontrolled dogs/pets
- noise nuisance
- door knocking/banging
- rubbish left outside property/common parts
- abandoned vehicles
- nuisance behaviour from children
Further information
For further information, please contact an anti-social behaviour
investigation officer in your area by emailing antisocialbehaviour@towerhamlets.gov.uk.
Who to contact
To discuss any issues about community safety, contact your safer
neighbourhood team. Find details of your
nearest team.
To report anti-social behaviour call the council’s 24 hour
freephone reporting line on 0800 917 5 918 or for hate crime call
0800 138 0521 alternatively you can send your complaint via email
to antisocialbehaviour@towerhamlets.gov.uk.
ASB monthly e-bulletin
Related services