Anti social behaviour? What is Babergh doing?

It seems that few people know that District councils have statutory responsibility for community safety.  Unlike dustbin emptying and planning a lot of the work done in this area goes on quietly behind the scenes, and is moreover, done on something of a shoestring.

Having chaired the West Babergh Safer Neighbourhood meetings for some time, after the elections in May,  I became the Chairman of the Babergh Community Safety Partnership. This has been a mixed experience.  Being honest, sitting in meetings reading reports and looking at ‘incident statistics’, I have found it difficult to get to grips with what the relevant officers actually do on the ground.

Accordingly over the next few weeks I have decided to spend a little time meeting the (rather few) officers who are working in the area throughout the District. This morning I started my investigations with a trip to Sudbury Police Station to talk to Babergh’s Anti-Social Behaviour Network Officer, Sally Watson.

Sally’s job specification is very broad.  Working from the Police Station, she has a high level of autonomy with regard to how she chooses to tackle anti social behaviour reduction in the District. With other agencies, such as the police, housing, and social services, she works with problem families, and also with ‘problem places’ (remember the boy racers around Kentucky Fried Chicken a few years ago?)  She also works in and around schools, the main aim being to nip bad behaviour in the bud through education and communication; (What would you think if someone treated your gran like that?).  A success story is the progress made in discouraging underage drinking.  A very striking video has been produced which shows young people at risk the dangers of alcohol abuse, seen through the eyes of three local young people whose lives were almost ruined by the demon drink.

Reading some articles on the subject on the internet I have discovered that many anti social behaviour practitioners are criticised for being reactive rather than proactive when addressing the problem.  I do not think that this is a criticism that can be levelled at Babergh!

Sally has won, and been nominated for, a number of awards for her work and I had a very interesting meeting with her.  I asked her if her life was a bit like painting the Forth Bridge; she might sort one group of young people out, but they would soon be replaced by the next generation.  There seems to be an element of truth in this, but the effective, work done with older troublemakers does have a knock on effect on their younger imitators it seems.