The government is to pilot the use of a ‘community trigger’ to force agencies to take action against anti-social behaviour.
Home secretary Theresa May announced that the Home Office is working with ‘a number of local authorities’ and intends to launch five pilot schemes in the summer.
Under the scheme agencies would be forced to step in if five or more households in an area complain about anti-social behaviour caused by the same individual.
Ms May said the idea is to deal with ‘horror stories of victims reporting the same problem over and over again, and getting no response’.
The government has already been working with eight police forces that are testing new ways of handling anti-social behaviour complaints. These are designed to prioritise people who are vulnerable or have reported a lot of problems.
Ms May said: ‘The eight forces have reported encouraging initial results from the trials – including better working relationships with other agencies, an improved service to the victim and the start of a shift in culture, with call handlers responding to the needs of the victim, rather than just ticking boxes.
‘Most importantly, forces have been able to identify high-risk individuals – often people experiencing the most horrendous abuse – who might otherwise have slipped through the net. And they have taken action to make that abuse stop.