Organisations across Derbyshire are joining the UK's first official Anti-Social Behaviour Awareness Week to take a stand in making communities safer.

Derbyshire Constabulary, Derbyshire County Council, District and City Councils, Derbyshire Victim Support, amongst many others have all signed the ASB Help Pledge, showing their commitment to tackling the issue.

#ASBawarenessweek - which runs from 19 to 25 July - aims to bring people and organisations together in tackling anti-social behaviour on the streets of Derbyshire.

The national campaign is supported by the Home Office and hosted by Resolve, a Centre of Excellence, solely focused upon community safety and anti-social behaviour.

The term anti-social behaviour is used to describe the day-to-day incidents of crime, nuisance and disorder. It’s an activity that can make people’s lives a misery and can have a severe impact on the local community, ranging from litter and vandalism, to public drunkenness or aggressive dogs, to noisy or abusive neighbours.

Throughout this dedicated week of action, representatives from the police, fire service, local councils and housing associations will be raising awareness of anti-social behaviour and how to tackle these incidents.

Working together with local communities, they aim to educate residents of Derbyshire on the fine balance between tolerance, respect and enforcement, along with signposting the correct reporting methods for different types of anti-social behaviour incidents and showcasing the support available for victims.

Derbyshire Constabulary say officers will also be out on patrol around specific areas, to combat any unwanted behaviour on the county's streets. 

Assistant Chief Constable Michelle Shooter said: “Anti-social behaviour is not just about graffiti or noisy neighbours, they are incidents that can ruin lives and shatter local communities.

“Everyone has a responsibility and a part to play in making our communities a safe place. We are responsible for our behaviour, both at home and in our neighbourhoods, and all we ask is for people to be considerate to others and respect the spaces around where we live.

“If someone in your neighbourhood is causing a nuisance, make sure to report it. Everyone deserves to feel safe where we live and we rely on you to help us.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank our partner agencies in joining us on this campaign and for the ongoing work taking place across Derbyshire, improving and enhancing our communities, and quality of life for our local people.”

Councillor Carol Hart, Derbyshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Health and Communities, said: “We’re committed to working together to help make Derbyshire communities safer by tackling issues that matter to residents, which is why we’ve signed up to the ASB Help pledge.

“A lot of things, like teenagers meeting in groups or children playing in the street, are not necessarily anti-social behaviour. But problems that happen frequently over a long period of time and cause alarm, distress or harassment could be.

“We understand this kind of behaviour may upset you and it can sometimes be difficult to know who to report it to so that’s why we’ve created a handy guide to help residents understand where to get support so they can feel safe where they live.”

Rebecca Brown, Chief Executive Officer for ASB Help, said: “ASB Help are very proud to have worked with Derbyshire County Council and their partners in Derby and Derbyshire on taking the ASB Help Pledge. They have demonstrated a strong commitment to working in their communities, and for their communities.

"They have developed a suite of resources to enable practitioners to proactively tackle anti-social behaviour and reduce the harm and misery it causes to victims.”

Station Manager Darren Perrott said: “In 2019/20 Firefighters responded to 874 deliberate fires across Derbyshire which not only tied up our resources, affecting our ability to respond to more serious incidents like house fires or road traffic accidents, but also had a social and environmental impact on our communities.

“For this reason, we’ve begun to provide an anonymous scheme, FireStoppers, where our communities can help us gather intelligence. Through the scheme, we hope to see a positive impact on the number of deliberate fires we are called to attend in the future.”

Derbyshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Angelique Foster, said: “Anti-social behaviour or ASB is not ‘just a low-level crime’. It is not acceptable and I will do everything I can to support the work of the police and partners to tackle the problem.

“I promised to prioritise neighbourhood crime such as anti-social behaviour and I will support and invest in local prevention schemes in order to improve the quality of life for Derbyshire and Derby City residents.”

Anti-social behaviour covers a wide range of problems and because of this, the agency that you should speak to varies, such as your local council, housing association or the police. A breakdown of reporting methods can be found at Safer Derbyshire website.

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