Anti-social behaviour is still a problem in Rochdale

Simon Danczuk MP welcomed Retail Ready People to Rochdale

Local MP Simon Danczuk has urged the Government not to scrap the ASBO and called for faster action to help tackle anti-social behaviour in Rochdale.

A detailed breakdown obtained by Freedom of Information Requests from Shadow Home Office Minister Gloria De Piero and research by statisticians from the House of Commons Library has revealed new figures, which show in the Rochdale local authority area there were 17,133 anti-social behaviour incidents recorded by the police in 2012.

This means on average there were 80.9 cases of anti-social behaviour incidents per 1,000 people in Rochdale local authority area in the last year.

The figures also paint a revealing picture of the scale of the anti-social behaviour problem at a police force wide area, with Greater Manchester Police force recording 229,714 number of incidents of anti-social behaviour in 2012, which means on average there were 85.6 incidents of anti-social behaviour per 1,000 people.

Simon Danczuk MP said; “Anti-social behaviour is a serious problem. The Government’s official crime survey has revealed that more than eight out of ten people believe anti social behaviour has risen in England and Wales in the last 12 months and nearly a third said that they had personally been a victim of yobbish behaviour or had witnessed an event in the last 12 months.

"For example, I've had complaints from residents of Hamer Close and this week I visited the area and saw for myself the misery some people are causing. Dealing drugs, making a mess, too much noise, destroying people's property - they are making local residents' lives a real misery and the police need the powers to deal with this.

“The Government is turning the clock back with their plans to scrap the ASBO and replace it with a weaker power which carries no criminal sanction for a breach. The Government’s community trigger, which demands a response if a person has complained three times just isn’t good enough. People have the right to expect action right away and help to tackle an issue which is a huge worry."