Anti-social behaviour

As defined under the Anti-social behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, anti-social behaviour is:

• “Conduct that has caused, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm, or distress to any person.”
  
  
• “Conduct capable of causing nuisance or annoyance to a person in relation to that persons occupation of residential premises.”
  
  
• “Conduct capable of causing housing related nuisance or annoyance to any person.”

Things that we do not consider to be anti-social behaviour are:

• Children playing
  
  
• Babies crying
  
  
• DIY at reasonable times
  
  
• Noise generated by everyday living, for example walking across laminate flooring wearing shoes
  
  
• Mowing of lawns or other garden maintenance at reasonable times
  
  
• Noise from domestic appliances at reasonable times
  
  
• Cooking smells.

If someone has assaulted you or threatened violence, this is a serious matter.

If needed, ensure you have someone with you when you contact the Police and consider contacting Victim Support for help. You may want to think about having someone stay with you – or going to stay with family or friends – for a couple of days, for ongoing support.

These criminal offences must be reported to the Police, and we will work with them to stop this activity and prevent further incidents.

If you are concerned about modern slavery or child trafficking, you can visit the Unseen website for more information.

Some forms of anti-social behaviour are classed as criminal offences and should be reported to the Police in the first instance. You should obtain a crime reference number as well as the name of the officer dealing with the allegation before reporting it to us. That way, we can work in partnership with the Police and take any appropriate action. You should also be sure to let the Police know if you, or any others, are in danger.

You can find more detail on specific types of criminal anti-social behaviour – and additional information on reporting allegations – below.

If you are aware of any criminal damage occurring, contact the Police immediately on 999. Do not put yourself in danger by approaching anyone carrying out an illegal act.

If you notice any criminal damage after it has taken place, please report it to the Police on 101. If safe to do so, take a photo of the damage, but don’t touch the area in case the police need to carry out a forensic examination.

If the item or property that has been damaged belongs to us, you should contact us with the police reference number so that we can work with them to bring charges and seek compensation from the perpetrator for the damage caused.

We cannot deal with one-off instances of ‘general living noises’ such as parties, crying babies, on-off arguments, children playing, footsteps and DIY.

For persistent noise, try speaking to your neighbour about potential ways to minimise the noise such as turning down loud music, not having late night visitors talking in communal areas or asking them to move TVs / radios from adjoining walls.

If the noise continues, keep a log of dates and times to see whether a pattern emerges before reporting it to your Local Authority’s Environmental Health team. You should obtain a reference from them before reporting it to us so we can work in partnership with them. Find your local council’s details at Gov.UK.

Alternatively, download The Noise App. Once downloaded to your phone: The Noise App gives you a simple way to capture noise that is disturbing you and report it directly to us.

If you are concerned about your neighbour’s welfare due to the nature of the noise, e.g. shouting and banging, please contact the Police, or seek advice by visiting our Domestic Abuse and Safeguarding page.

With regards to animal noise, we can only deal with any noise deemed excessive, i.e. continuous periods for at least 30 minutes, five days a week. If you believe this is the case, you should follow the same process as above to report it.

Please contact the RSPCA if you are concerned about the welfare of an animal.

These offences must be reported to the Police to investigate. If you feel you can’t speak to the Police, you can contact Crimestoppers instead.

If you, or anyone you know, needs additional support please contact one of the following agencies who are there to help you:

• Victim Support
• Rape Crisis
• Rape and Abuse Line
• The Survivors Trust.

We take all allegations of this nature seriously. Please keep diary sheets of the dates and times of incidents.  You can report this online on your myhomeonline account.

We can offer mediation in some cases which may be helpful.

You should report instances to the Police on 999 or 101, or use crimestoppers to report the crime anonymous.

We work closely with the Police when faced with allegations of this nature.

You must be specific when making an allegation so we can act on the information given, for example, tell us exactly which house or flat the activity is taking place in and provide details of dates and times.

Please also try to obtain descriptions of individuals, or the registration numbers of any cars, attending the property to deliver or collect drugs, but only if it is safe to do so.

Concerns about gun or knife crime, or witnessing a crime, must be reported to the Police.

If you are concerned about a child becoming involved in gun or knife crime, or gangs, you may find the Government’s information for parents and carers useful.

The Community Trigger gives victims of anti-social behaviour the right to request a review of their case, if their concerns have not been dealt with, or acted upon, and organisations have been unable to resolve the serious persistent, or targeted, anti-social behaviour successfully.

The Community Trigger is also known as an Anti-Social Behaviour Case Review.  The aim of the review is to see whether anything else can be done and possibly find solutions that may not have been considered before.

You can use the Community Trigger if:

• You have reported three or more related incidents of anti-social behaviour, within the last six months
  
  
• Your last report of ASB is within one month
  
  
• You can evidence that you have reported this behaviour to agencies.

It doesn’t matter who the anti-social behaviour has been reported to (the council, the Police or your landlord). Please contact our Anti-Social Behaviour Team on 0300 123 6000, MyHomeOnline or at customerservices@emh.co.uk.

You can apply for the Community Trigger on behalf of someone else, but you must provide their consent, with the application form.

The Community Trigger is not intended to be an alternative to our complaints procedure which is designed to deal with complaints about individual officers, or services. You can view the complaints procedure here.

Responding to, and tackling, anti-social behaviour is a priority for all community safety partners in Derbyshire. Emh is part of Derbyshire Community Safety Partnership, which brings organisations together to enable us to bring to justice those causing anti-social behaviour and provide support for people affected by it.

Emh always strives to provide a high level of service, but recognise that there may be times when, we don’t get it quite right and you may feel a further review is needed.  This is where the Anti-Social Behaviour Case Review comes in.

The Anti-Social Behaviour Case Review gives victims of anti-social behaviour the right to request a review of their case, if their concerns have not been dealt with, or acted upon, and organisations have been unable to resolve the serious persistent, or targeted, anti-social behaviour successfully.

If you haven’t already reported the anti-social behaviour, you should report it to the appropriate organisation.  For more information, use our how to report anti-social behaviour tool

The aim of the Anti-Social Behaviour Case Review is to see whether anything else can be done and possibly find solutions that may not have been considered before.

In Derbyshire, the Anti-Social Behaviour Case Review process is managed by the local council on behalf of the other organisations that will be involved in the review, such as the police, local health teams and housing providers.

You can use the Anti-Social Behaviour Case Review if:-

you have reported three or more related incidents of anti-social behaviour, within the last six months.

It doesn’t matter who the anti-social behaviour has been reported to (the council, the police or your landlord), please use the Anti-Social Behaviour Case Review application form on the council website.

You can apply for the Anti-Social Behaviour Case Review on behalf of someone else, but you must provide their consent, with the application form.

A detailed explanation of the threshold for the Anti-Social Behaviour Case Review is contained within the guidance notes for the application form.

If you haven’t already reported the anti-social behaviour, you should report it to the appropriate organisation. For more information, use Safer Derbyshire’s how to report anti-social behaviour tool or please contact us.

The Anti-Social Behaviour Case Review is not intended to be an alternative to our complaints procedure here, which is designed to deal with complaints about individual officers, or services.

The complaints procedure is appropriate for concerns such as:-

·        if staff have been rude or disrespectful to you

·        if staff have given inaccurate or misleading information

·        if staff have promised things, such as telephone calls or meetings, and have not delivered on these

·        if the organisation has failed to follow their policy and/or procedure.

If you have followed the relevant organisation’s complaints procedure and you are still dissatisfied, you will be given information about the Housing Ombudsman Service.

In order to use the Anti-Social Behaviour Case Review to request an Anti-Social Behaviour Case Review, you must complete the application form, which is available on the local council’s website.

If you require a hardcopy of the Anti-Social Behaviour Case Review Application Form or help completing the form, contact community safety at your local council.

The local council will confirm receipt of a completed Anti-Social Behaviour Case Review Application Form, within five working days.

The council will review the information you have provided, to determine whether your case meets the Anti-Social Behaviour Case Review threshold.  If it does, an Anti-Social Behaviour Case Review will take place.  This will involve agencies sharing information, such as with the police, housing, environmental health, social care and health providers, depending on the nature of the case.  The Anti-Social Behaviour Case Review will discuss the issues you raise, consider what action has already been taken and consider recommendations for additional action to resolve the problem.  The council will inform you of the outcome and recommendations of the Anti-Social Behaviour Case Review.

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the Anti-Social Behaviour Case Review, you can lodge an appeal with the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Derbyshire.  For more information click here.

As part of Derbyshire Community Safety Partnership, we welcome the opportunity to review cases of anti-social behaviour, but the council may reject Anti-Social Behaviour Case Review applications, if they are thought to be prejudicial, discriminatory, malicious, unreasonable or vexatious.

www.ASB HELP.co.uk

www.victimsupport.org.uk

www.womensaid.org.uk

www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk

www.citizensadvice.org.uk

Bright Sky