Cllr Ben Duncan

Green Party councillor Ben Duncan has warned Government proposals to get tough on anti-social behaviour could make the problem worse, not better. Mr Duncan, made his comments after Home Secretary Alan Johnson called on the courts to prosecute more youngsters who breached ASBOs.
 
Ben, who speaks for the Greens on Community Safety issues and is also a member of the Sussex Police Authority, said:
“By concentrating on the police and the courts – and the use of discredited ASBOs (Anti-Social Behaviour Orders) - the Government’s approach to making our streets safer risks making life worse for communities affected by low-level crime and anti-social behaviour.
 
“ASBOs just haven’t worked, and the answer must lie in scrapping them entirely rather than even tougher enforcement by the police and the courts.
 
“I am delighted that  Sussex Police have accepted that the key to tackling anti-social behaviour is better partnership working with the council and other local agencies. While we must use the law firmly to deal with the small number of people who consistently make life for others in their community a misery,  what’s really  needed is more funding for neighbourhood policing, better provision for youth activities, and a less formal approach to the problem.
 
“People living in Whitehawk, Moulsecoomb and the Queen’s Park estates, for example, want to know who their local PCSOs and police officers are – and to see them a bit more often: and that costs money.
 
“But rather than invest in neighbourhood policing, the Government is starving the police of funds –  Sussex alone will have to find cuts of up to £35m in the next five years just to balance its book, the Chief Constable has warned.”
 
“Alan Johnson's announcement is little more than tired thinking from a tired Government – we need more preventative work to make communities safer, not simply more prosecutions.”

Leader of the Lib Dem group on Brighton and Hove Council said:

"We are lucky in Brunswick and Adelaide that we both know the PCSOs and local police officers well. They attend local meetings and are seen around the ward. Having this kind of relationship means residents can directly raise issues with them and hopefully tackle them more quickly."