Anti-social behaviour
What is anti-social behaviour?
When someone’s quality of life is affected by the actions of other people in the community, this is anti-social behaviour (ASB).
Anti-social behaviour affects lots of people and often impacts lots of people in one community.
If you’re experiencing anti-social behaviour, aren’t sure what to do or need support in coping with what’s going on, we’re here to help.
Voice has extensive experience of supporting people dealing with:
- noise nuisance;
- neighbourly disputes;
- verbal abuse;
- threatening behaviour;
- harassment and intimidation;
- vandalism; and
- criminal damage.
You may think that an incident is small or unimportant to start with, but anti-social behaviour can go on for a long time and become very serious.
Not all anti-social behaviour is classed as crime, however lots are and different types of ASB can lead on to becoming crimes.
Whether what you’re experiencing is a crime or not, we can help to support you and help you to take action. To help solve neighbourly disputes and anti-social behaviour, Voice actively supports Restorative Practices, to mediate between those in conflict. Find out more, here (hyperlink).
Read about how we’ve helped residents cope with the anti-social behaviour.
How anti-social behaviour can affect you
People are affected by anti-social behaviour in a variety of different ways, which are often affected by the type of ASB they are experiencing.
Common reactions to anti-social behaviour include:
- feeling anxious and constantly on edge;
- being frightened to go out;
- changing your routine to avoid problems;
- feeling sad and upset; wanting to move house;
- feeling unsafe; and
- having trouble sleeping.
How can Voice can help me?
Dealing with anti-social behaviour is hard. However, Voice have a wealth of experience in helping people just like you to cope, recover and thrive following anti-social behaviour.
We can help you by:
- providing emotional support by phone and face to face;
- speaking to different agencies who can help on your behalf;
- keeping you up to date with what is being done to tackle the problem;
- helping you understand the process of tackling crime and anti-social behaviour, which can take a long time;
- giving you advice about your personal safety and home security;
- supporting you in mediation to try and resolve the problem;
- helping you contact other agencies and services that can also offer help; and
- supporting you if a case goes to court.
If you could do with a helping hand to deal with anti-social behaviour, speak to Voice, now.
How can I report anti-social behaviour?
For many people experiencing anti-social behaviour, knowing how to begin dealing with it is often a problem.
It’s important to tell the right people about what is going on. Depending on the situation, you can report ASB to:
- your landlord. They have a duty to make sure that tenants don’t behave in a way that breaks their tenancy agreement;
- the local authority. There is a department in each local council who has responsibility for anti-social behaviour. Call the council’s reception and ask to speak to the staff who deal with anti-social behaviour complaints, and;
- the police. If you think a crime has been committed you should report this to the police.
If you experience anti-social behaviour, you may have to help provide evidence before action can be taken, for example you may be asked to keep a diary of things that happen. You might even be asked to have recording equipment in your property for noise nuisance.
It takes a lot of time and energy to keep doing this and we will support you. There is often no quick fix, but we’re here to help you through the process.