Labour calls for community groups to be given power to apply for Asbos

The call to extend Asbo powers has come from Labour MSPs and follows the release of new figures which show that just 0.1 per cent of complaints in Scotland about anti-social behaviour during one year led to orders being imposed.

Documents obtained under Freedom of Information legislation revealed that 219,689 complaints were made about anti-social behaviour were made during 2009-10 but just 249 Asbos were approved by the courts.

The figures also revealed that the number of complaints rose from 214,926 during 2007-08 to 217,150 in 2008-09, before reaching last year's total. However, the number of Asbos dropped from 322 during 2007-08 to 297 in 2008-09 and 249 for 2009-10.

Labour's Community Safety spokesman, James Kelly, said that local councils should be forced to apply to courts for Asbos against troublemakers, if a community council, residents or tenants groups want an order to be pursued.

"Local people know best when it comes to anti-social behaviour," Kelly said. "They live with its consequences and know that doing nothing is never the right option. Through this process we hope that local people will know that their views count and they have a formal process to get action."

Kelly added that community groups wanting to apply for Asbos would have to hold meetings to discuss the move, which would need to be voted on by members of the organisations.

The extent to which Asbos are now becoming a political issue across party lines was demonstrated by the coalition government last month. In England, Home Secretary, Theresa May, said that Asbos will be phased out as a ineffective means of dealing with widespread anti-social behaviour. However,

a spokesman for the Scottish Government said: "Asbos will continue in Scotland and we believe they have a role to play as one of a range of available measures.

"However, the idea of communities being involved in applying for Asbos is not supported by police chiefs, local councils or even the most affected local areas themselves.

"That was the clear message from the most hard-pressed communities in response to a Scottish Government review last year, when people said they saw this as the job of professionals and were also fearful of retribution were it left to them."

But Norman Collie, a member of Grampian Joint Police Board, agreed that too many offenders were "getting away" with anti-social behaviour and that new powers were needed to tackle the problem.

He said: "I would be sympathetic to giving these powers to communities, but a case would need to built against an individual and it would all have to be done properly.

"Community councils and other forums are bodies that look to improve the areas people live in, so it's right that they should have an input into Asbos.

"Something definitely needs to be looked at, as the current system is not working and people are getting away with things they shouldn't."