Thursday, 02 September 2010

Johnson targets bad behaviour

Social landlords and other agencies will have to respond to all anti-social behaviour complaints within 24 hours, the home secretary Alan Johnson has announced.

In a speech on Tuesday, Mr Johnson said all agencies handling anti-social behaviour must also give a named contact to victims to keep them updated on the progress of their case.

Mr Johnson said: ‘It is not an unreasonable expectation that all complaints about anti-social behaviour are dealt with speedily and professionally.’

He also announced proposals to allow councils and police to issue ‘dog control notices’ and enforce microchipping so owners could be traced.

Liz Chambers, community safety manager at Peabody, said the orders might be useful for landlords who were unable to change tenancy agreements to ban pets. She added that more detail was needed on how the 24-hour response pledge would work.

Readers' comments (1)

  • Isn't anti- social behaviour a criminal offence? Shouldn't it be reported to police in first instance? Shouldn't they be responding to the incident? Haven't the police seriously mismanaged the process of dealing with ASB? Shouldn't the police take ownership and responsibility of this problem? Shouldn't they be leading and co-ordinating with the other agencies on how to tackle this problem with effective preventative measures?
    I see micro-chipping reared its ugly head again. What about micro-chipping the thugs (maybe a collar and leash too), who are causing the problems?

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