On patrol with the anti-social behaviour squad

Targeted anti-social behaviour patrols are being rolled out across England and Wales from April. At least £1m funding given to each of the 43 police forces. BBC News went out with Lancashire Police on a trial patrol in Brunswick, Blackpool, where a small team of officers have spent the past eight months making inroads with the community. The police helped track down her scooter using CCTV and the help of the local community on Facebook.

The officers are ring-fenced and cannot be taken off to assist with other, more serious incidents elsewhere. They are always available to chat about anything you’re worried about, and they always ask me how my little dog is. Doctors at the Sure Start Centre didn’t want to go out to their own cars parked 20-30ft (7-9m) away from the door. The next stop is a cup of tea and a chat with the Boys and Girls club, a local after-school centre for children as young as eight.

That child was responsible for a fair amount of the anti-social behaviour going on around here, PC Nelson confides. He says he is now more receptive and sometimes even challenges the officers to a game at the club’s pool table. In some ways, of course, the initiative is not new at all but a return to the “Bobby on the beat”" style policing of the last century. Of the 10,000 anti-social behaviour victims helped by Victim Support last year, 81% had been told their experience did not meet the criminal threshold.

Between July and December 2023, recorded incidents of theft in Brunswick dropped by 14%, and drug offences by a quarter. Criminal damage, arson and public order offences almost halved. Ian has not allowed visitors to his home in West Lancashire for over a year. He says his elderly neighbour shouts often violent abuse and bangs on the wall.

His now ex-partner moved out amid the strain and he regularly sleeps in his car to get away from the noise. Ian’s neighbour is convinced he is secretly running a laundrette from his home. He has called the police five or six times, he says, but they tell him they’re unable to help. He says while initiatives like Operation Centurion are important, they are not the whole story.

Charity Victim Support and others are calling for the Victims and Prisoners bill to recognise people like Ian as victims. The Bill, currently going through parliament, would give them an automatic right to support.

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