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Please note that within the main body of this document where a specific text is suggested for inclusion in a local protocol it is in ordinary typeface. Comments and explanations are given in italics. (This does not apply to the annexes).
1.1 The agencies which are members of the partnership are:
1.2 Section 5 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 provides that the local authority should act in co-operation with the police force, the probation service and the health authority in producing a local crime and disorder strategy. Such partnerships offer the best foundation and framework for tackling anti-social behaviour.
1.3 As well as the statutory partners above, other agencies should be included in the partnership:
• Registered Social Landlords
(Housing Associations).
• Organisations which represent local residents (such as Neighbourhood Watch associations) and businesses should also be included.
• Agencies, such as the social services and the youth offending team, which provide care and support and help to divert young people from anti-social behaviour.
1.4 It will be for the partnership to draw up its protocol, but it may wish to offer the local Crown Prosecution Service and magistrates’ courts service an opportunity to have a hand in the process.
1.5 The designated ASB co-ordinator is.......
1.6 As recommended in the report of Policy Action team No 8 "Anti-social behaviour", Crime and Disorder Partnerships should identify a named person in each LA district to co-ordinate action on anti-social behaviour. Given the need for close and effective inter-agency co-operation, the partnership should appoint an official from the local authority or a police officer as the designated ASB co-ordinator within the partnership area. It is recommended that the co-ordinator should have clear lines of communication with both the LA chief executive and the area police commander, in view of their responsibility for the partnership. Where the co-ordinator is a council official he or she should not owe first allegiance to a particular LA department. The workload in some areas may require a full-time ASB co-ordinator, whereas in others the role may take up only part of a person’s duties.
1.7 Inter agency co-operation is needed at two levels:-
• Strategic and management; and
• Operational.
1.8 Useful guidance for local arrangements at the strategic and management level is provided by the crime and disorder briefing produced jointly by the National Housing Federation (NHF) and the Local Government Association (LGA) (at Appendix A). Although aimed at promoting co-operation between local authorities and housing associations, it can be applied to Crime and Disorder Partnerships in general, especially when read together with the PAT 8 recommendation on ASB co-ordinators. For instance, paragraph 2 of the document identifies the following key features of effective local co-operation:
• the involvement of all relevant agencies in identifying problems and priorities;
• a statement of the respective roles and responsibilities of the partner agencies;
• an agreed mechanism for sharing and using information in tackling crime;
• an agreed range of legal remedies for deterring criminal and anti-social behaviour.
1.9 The second feature is particularly relevant in the case of non-unitary authority areas. In such a case it is for the district council to take the lead with the police in the partnership, but the county council will also need to be represented in the partnership because of its responsibility for the provision of local social services. Such overlapping structures make effective co-ordination even more important. There should be at least one meeting of all the partners each year to review the strategy, with the ASB co-ordinator also a member of the partnership’s strategy group.
1.10 In addition to the above each partnership should devise a local media and information strategy, to promote awareness of anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs), and give a designated officer responsibility for its delivery. Guidance on this is at Appendix B.
1.11 At the operational level it is recommended that regular consultation meetings which can review and oversee progress in cases should be held wherever the workload justifies such an approach. Further aids to effective co-operation are flow charts. Two examples are at Appendix C. Joint training programmes can help to develop a shared approach to problem solving and keep partner agencies up to speed with best practice. Best practice can also be disseminated through the internet or regular bulletins.
1.12 Although the following are not partner agencies specific arrangements have been made with them for consultation and information sharing as necessary:
1.13 The local partnership should agree clear lines of communication for outside organisations and non-partner agencies to use when reporting behaviour which may require an ASBO. A sample form for making such reports is at Appendix D.
1.14 The Crown Prosecution Service may not be in the partnership but should be included here as an agency which will need to be involved in certain cases.
2.1 This protocol sets out agreed procedures for considering and making an application for an ASBO, and applying for the variation and discharge of an ASBO.
2.2 Section1(1) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 provides that an ASBO can apply only to a person aged 10 or older. Anti-social behaviour under the Act is to be understood by reference to the term "anti-social manner" which is defined in section 1(1)(a) as "a manner that caused or was likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not of the same household" as the perpetrator. Section 1(1)(b) provides that it is necessary to show that an ASBO will protect persons in the local government area in which the harassment alarm or distress was caused or was likely to be caused from further anti-social acts by the perpetrator.
2.3 Section 1(2) provides that ASBOs may be applied for only by the police or the local authority after having consulted the other. Under section 127 of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980, an application for an ASBO (by complaint) must be made within six months of the behaviour taking place, although earlier incidents may be used as background information to support a case.
2.4 Anti-social behaviour should be taken to mean behaviour, whether or not in itself criminal, that causes or is likely to cause harassment, alarm and distress to other people. Anti-social behaviour should include behaviour that puts people in fear of crime, since this causes alarm or distress. An ASBO is unlikely to be suitable for settling a private dispute between two or more neighbouring families (for example over boundary lines), unless the dispute escalates into anti-social behaviour.
3.1 Under this protocol an ASBO application will be considered where it is necessary to protect individuals or families who are the targets of anti-social behaviour or whose lives or communities are being blighted by such behaviour. An application will not be made against people simply because they are different from their neighbours or engage in activities which are different, for example because they belong to another race or religion. When investigating complaints about anti-social behaviour, the partner agencies must satisfy themselves that they have not been motivated by discrimination/victimisation on the grounds of, for example, race, disability, sex, sexual orientation, age, religion or creed.
3.2 Partner agencies should consider training for their staff in order to help them assess whether complaints about anti-social behaviour are being driven by discrimination.
4.1 As of October 2000, the Human Rights Act will makes it unlawful for a public authority to act or fail to act in a way which is incompatible with the ECHR. All partner agencies will comply with the ECHR at all stages of the process, taking into account the need to protect the rights and freedoms of members of the community at large as well as those of the defendant.
4.2 Those in charge of a case at any given stage will, in consultation with legal advisers, therefore need to be satisfied that:
• all procedural and substantive rights under the ECHR are complied with;
• any interference with the defendant’s rights which is sought in the ASBO is necessary and in accordance with the provisions of the ECHR;
• the proposed terms of the ASBO are reasonable and proportionate to the anti- social behaviour in question; and
• the ASBO being applied for is not in such terms that the defendant is bound to breach it.
4.3 In assessing what is reasonable and proportionate those in charge of a case will bear in mind the need to uphold people’s rights not to be disturbed by anti-social behaviour.
4.4 The Articles of the ECHR incorporated into UK law by the Human Rights Act are set out at Appendix E together with an example of a checklist for practitioners, which is taken from the Human Rights Task Force Core Guidance for Public Authorities.
5.1 Effective exchange of information between partner agencies is central to the working of ASBOs and is also a necessary part of proper consultation.
5.2 The two most relevant statutory provisions are section 115 of the Crime and Disorder Act and the Data Protection Act 1998:
• Section 115 provides that any person (whether a private individual or member of a public body) can lawfully disclose information, where necessary or expedient, for the purposes of any provision of the Act, to a relevant authority or a person acting on behalf of such an authority, even if he or she would not otherwise have this power. Under the Act "relevant authority" means: the chief officer of police, the police authority, the local authority, the probation committee or the health authority.
• The Data Protection Act exempts from its normal restrictions the disclosure of personal information, the provision of such data for the purposes of the prevention or detection of crime, or the apprehension or prosecution of offenders, and where failure to disclose would be likely to prejudice those objectives in a particular case.
5.3 Section 115 is particularly useful in protecting information received by a relevant authority about potential ASBO cases. The provision "or a person acting on behalf of such an authority" enables a partnership to decide at the strategic level to make the ASB co-ordinator as the single point of contact for information from members of the public, private landlords, local businesses and voluntary organisations.
5.4 The provisions of the Data Protection Act are helpful in the case of the exchange of processed or readily retrievable information between partner agencies - whether or not they are relevant authorities for the purpose of section 115. Whereas it may often be appropriate to provide only generic or non-personal information to such an agency, there may be occasions where it is necessary to disclose personal information in the interests of a successful ASBO application and, by extension, in the interests of preventing crime.
5.5 Where a partner agency receives information about, or becomes aware of, behaviour which might require an ASBO, it will immediately notify the designated ASB co-ordinator, the police and the local authority in all cases, and other partner agencies as agreed with the co-ordinator. Each partner agency will have a Designated Information Liaison Officer for the purpose of exchanging information quickly and in confidence. In the case of the police, this will be the designated officer for the relevant area.
5.6 Information shared between the partner agencies should be accurate and relevant to the problem and should be exchanged only between designated information liaison officers with training covering not only the requirements of the Crime and Disorder Act and the Data Protection Act, but also their obligations under the common law - eg the common-law duty of confidence - and the ECHR. Questions such as the format in which information is provided, its legal status, and the method of its secure transmission (eg by fax or e-mail) should be dealt with in a locally agreed Information Exchange Protocol for the partnership. Appendix F gives an example.
5.7 The protocol should be signed by all the partner agencies, whether or not they are relevant authorities under section 115 of the Crime and Disorder Act. Any breach of the protocol should be a disciplinary offence.
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