Every two minutes a yob inflicts more misery

Police are having to deal with unruly behaviour every two minutes across Greater Manchester, new figures show.

According to Government statistics, there were 252,656 incidents of anti-social behaviour recorded in the region last year.

That means 692 incidents a day — but the real figure could be much higher, because so few people actually tell police when incidents occur.

The British Crime Survey found nearly three-quarters of people who experience anti-social behaviour do not report it to the police.

GMPs Assistant Chief Constable Dave Thompson said: “We are determined that not only should people be safe in their communities, but they should feel safe too, and tackling anti-social behaviour is a top priority.

“Results from our third round of neighbourhood surveys show that the people of Greater Manchester are feeling more confident in how we tackle the issues that affect them most.

“The percentage of people who think that the police are doing a good or excellent job in their area has gone up by 7 per cent in the last nine months, and the amount of people who think there is a high level of anti-social behaviour in their area has gone down.

“However, we remain acutely aware of how much this behaviour can affect people’s lives, and are not complacent about the scale of the problem we continue to face.”

PCSOs are working across Greater Manchester and are part of the reason people regularly report anti-social behaviour because they know police are committed to providing the best service to victims of crime, he added.

Nationally, the figures requested by shadow home secretary Chris Grayling showed 3,868,000 complaints of aggression, yobbishness and intimidation in England and Wales.

Mr Grayling said: “Anti-social behaviour is blighting communities up and down the country — and the Home Secretary seems to have no idea what to do about it.

“We’ve seen initiative after initiative, but nothing they try has made any real difference.”

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said the Government had given police and local authorities the powers to tackle anti-social behaviour while the Tories had nothing to offer on the issue.

“Nine out of 10 councils have seen people’s fears about anti-social behaviour fall. On the other hand, the Conservatives say tackling anti-social behaviour is just a gimmick — and offer nothing in return,” she said.

“It wasn’t so long ago that he and his entire front-bench team tried to cut the length of time an Asbo can be in force from two years to three months.

“People can make up their own minds who’s soft on crime and anti-social behaviour.”