Fighting Crime (Public Engagement)

I would like to concentrate on one particular aspect of public engagement in fighting crime, namely antisocial behaviour crime. With such crime, ““public engagement”” means not the involvement of a random member of the public, but the engagement of the victims of that crime; they are very often the immediate or near neighbours of those committing the crime. It takes a great deal of courage for those people to become engaged in fighting that crime. They often suffer in silence for a long time before they take courage, their patience finally snaps, and they start to report it. I want to stress the very long period that it takes to resolve antisocial behaviour crime. That is because it involves the collection of evidence, which is a long-term procedure, and co-operation between the local authority, the police and the individuals concerned. It takes an enormous amount of evidence to build up a case that can be brought to court, and to secure a conviction. During that period, there is always the fear of reprisals from the perpetrators of the crime if it is discovered that the victims are making reports. It is difficult for people to stand up to the fear of intimidation, and the aggressive and intimidating behaviour. They need to have confidence in the police response, and in the police's capacity to protect them while the procedure is under way. I want to use one case to illustrate my point. It is typical of a number of cases that I have been informed about. It would not surprise me to learn that other hon. Members had come across similar cases. I have a very large file on the case in question. It illustrates how one family can make a misery of a number of people's lives. The Minister for Security, Counter-Terrorism, Crime and Policing made that very point in his opening remarks. I shall start by reading parts of letters that I have received from people who have been the victims of one family's antisocial behaviour. The first letter is dated July 2008, but the problem predates that; it actually affected the previous tenants of the property referred to in the letter, who were driven out. Homes in Havering is the arm's length management organisation that deals with housing in my borough, and the letter says:"““Homes in Havering have been dealing with this case for some three years. The levels of ASB””—" that is, antisocial behaviour—"““to date have been three threats to kill me, throwing bricks at my flat, verbal abuse etc.""Homes in Havering managed to have separate injunctions served on the tenant this March along with her Partner, both injunctions have a power of arrest attached to them. He was barred from the property and was not permitted within the road or adjacent roads. She was not allowed to use abusive language and was not allowed to let her ex partner back into her flat.""Well the injunctions have been breached and very little seems to get done. Early June I had to call 999 as I and other neighbours could hear her beating one of her children. The police came arrested her, the kids were taken from her. Nine days later she is back with the kids…The injunctions were again recently broken when he””—" the partner—"““returned to the property, the Police were called but he managed to escape through the back gardens. The Police told us they were going to arrest him later…and come back for her tomorrow once they have alerted Social services…My life has been hell for the last two years, I have been in fear of my life, not knowing if I would be attacked whilst opening my door.""I just feel like giving up, the law just does not protect innocent people.””" Neighbour No. 2, who is suffering at the hands of the same family, says:"““We have had to endure the constant disturbances…I eventually brought it to the attention of Social Services when I witnessed violent behaviour towards the children…I then resorted to calling the Police on many occasions when I again witnessed violence between””" the tenant"““and her partner…these bouts of violence included the children…The language was appalling and as the children have got older they now join in.""To cut a long story short we got in touch with the ASBO officer and Havering Council and since then have spent the last two years calling the Police, making statements, going to court…and signing Affidavits. Unfortunately, the Judge's decision to place an injunction with the power of arrest on both of them have proved a complete waste of time. They have both breached the injunction on more than one occasion””." The letter says that the partner"““still comes and goes even though he is banned from the property…but the Police still do not arrest him.””" The neighbour says that they"““even got a video of him scaling the garden wall…The neighbours””" on"““the other side…have moved out and gone to live with inlaws as they could not stand it anymore…I am fed up with hearing about more money being given to reduce Anti Social Behaviour…I am writing to you out of desperation, please tell me where I go from here.””" A third neighbour who is involved in the same case, which has been going on since 2003, says in an e-mail:"““It was only a few days in to our time—" at their address—"““did we realize we had a problem. The disruption and the turmoil to our lives has reigned ever since.""There has been a succession of ASB personnel…trying to deal with these people…. Social Services have documentation… a yard deep””" to deal with all the problems. The neighbour continues, saying that they have"““lost faith in law and order and agree that, after being involved either myself or family members in two world wars, that we now live in broken Britain.””" Homes in Havering has worked closely with the victims of those crimes and with the police, and it has been to court on numerous occasions. My point is that a long period elapses between the antisocial behaviour first occurring—the victim first reporting it, their having to keep diaries of what happens and maintain contact with the police until sufficient evidence has been amassed to take the case to court, and their waiting for a court case—and, for one reason or another, no conviction or prosecution being secured. Sometimes, the accused do not turn up and the case has to be adjourned or, for numerous reasons, there has to be another court case. The case that I have described has been going on for five years and has involved a variety of people. The victims of such antisocial behaviour crimes are losing faith in the system and in the police. However, in defence of Havering police, I must say that they do suffer—I used the word advisedly—from being a low-crime borough when compared with many inner-London boroughs, so when the Metropolitan police force resource allocation formula is calculated, Havering police are pretty much at the end of queue in respect of the number of additional police constables that they receive. Local people are not very receptive to the argument that other boroughs have more crime than they do; the crime that affects them is important to them, and Havering police are stretched, so they are not always able to react as they would wish.