7:30am Friday 30th July 2010
By James Morton
IS this the end for the Asbo?
Home secretary Theresa May announced this week that it was time to adopt a fresh approach in the fight against the blight of anti-social behaviour. “It’s time to move beyond the Asbo,” she said.
Introduced as part of New Labour’s “tough on crime” stance in 1998, the policy has divided opinion. They were intended to curb the activities of persistent nuisances and target those who terrorised communities.
But Ministry of Justice figures show more than half the 17,000 Asbos issued between 2000 and 2008 were breached.
Previously pervaded by anti-social behaviour, Poole’s Rossmore district was precisely the kind of area Asbos were designed to bring relief to.
But residents have been almost unanimously dismissive about the effectiveness of the orders.
Henry Bardsley, 69, has lived on the Bourne Estate for 35 years and said Asbos simply had no credibility. He said: “For it to make a difference, there has to be respect for it and there isn’t.
“I don’t think the perpetrators take any notice of them.
“I’ve brought up seven children on this estate. You have got to specifically target the parents of the troublemakers.”
A resident of Stanfield Road, who asked not to be named, said Asbos were now collected as a “badge of honour” for youths in the area.
“They seemed like a good idea, but the momentum has been lost,” she said.
Asher Nardone, who has long campaigned for tougher action on troublemakers, said the time it took to get an Asbo was a “joke”.
She said: “I had to go through years of abuse and an eviction to get an Asbo in place.
“Is that working? I don’t think so. It’s a halfway house that offers no protection.”
However, most residents agreed the home secretary’s plan to hand communities power to address their own problems was a step forward. One Solly Close resident said positive action had already been taken in Rossmore.
She said: “It is about community cohesion. We all have to live together on the estate and we should all try to get along.
“The Bourne Valley Action Group is already working with the police and council here.
“And while Asbos aren’t working, other measures like the dispersal order are.”
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