BY INSPECTOR JAMES WYATT
ANTI SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
One of the areas I’ll be focusing on over the next year will be Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) which is defined as ‘behaviour by a person which causes, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm or distress’. ASB is a term that’s used to describe a number of different behaviours, but what they all have in common is the impact they can have on your quality of life.
Due to the impact ASB can have I have made a pledge alongside Runnymede Borough Council and other partner agencies to tackle ASB across the Borough. On the ground local officers deal with ASB reports on a daily basis, attending wherever possible to deal with the behaviour. We also have an Anti-Social Behaviour Specialist within the Runnymede team who works on Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBO) and property closures where necessary.
We also work very closely on a strategic level, holding multi-agency meetings to discuss people and places that have a disproportionate impact on the community, and work together to solve these problems. These meetings draw on all agencies powers to solve the issues and ensure support is offered to those affected by ASB, as well as action against ASB perpetrators, and support where appropriate.
In order for us to ensure officers are patrolling the areas most affected by ASB and making best use of our resources, it’s important we fully understand what’s going on across Runnymede. It is therefore crucial that ASB is reported to us so that we can target these patrols. All calls to Surrey Police are subject to a deployment assessment based on risk at that time alongside competing demands. However, even if we are unable to deploy officers, that report is important in planning our response to the issue.
You can report anything to us by calling 101 or 999 in an emergency. I would however highly recommend our new reporting options that can be quicker for you and also free up 101 lines if the incident isn’t happening at the time of reporting. You can complete an online form on our website, www.surrey.police.uk, click live chat on our website to communicate directly with an operator or report by sending a message to our Facebook page: RUNNYMEDE BEAT (SURREY POLICE)
Crimestoppers can also be contacted to make an anonymous report on 0800555111 if you feel unable to contact police for any reason.
I would like to thank the residents of Runnymede for their continued support and I would encourage you to follow ‘Runnymede Beat’ on Facebook for updates on our work tackling ASB and crime across Runnymede.