Antisocial behaviour IS that bad, say police as they pledge to take complaints seriously in Milton Keynes

Thames Valley Police and Milton Keynes College has this month launched a special campaign to empower witnesses and victims of any form of antisocial behaviour to speak out and report incidents.

This can include problems with nuisance neighbours, loud and disruptive road users or people using drugs in your street.

A TVP spokesperson said: “Have you ever thought ‘I didn’t think it was serious enough to report’ or been told ‘it’s not that bad’ or ‘not that antisocial’?”

They added: “Well, whether it is repetitive loud music, inconsiderate behaviour or vandalism, we are here to tell you: It’s that antisocial.”

“ASB is not always categorised as a crime and often takes a multi-agency response. It can also occur during an incident which involves another crime type.

“It can fall into three different category areas: Personal ASB which targets a specific person or group, nuisance ASB which causes trouble or disturbance to a community and environmental ASB where a person’s actions affect the wider environment.”

A national report into antisocial behaviour in 2024, published by Resolve UK, found that there were likely more than five million incidents of ASB nationwide in 2023.

Shockingly, ASB has forced more than one in seven people to consider moving home, with one in four left feeling unsafe in their area.

ButY ouGov data continually shows that more than half of victims or witnesses to all types of ASB do not report them. In the last three years, only 26 per cent of victims and witnesses reported an ASB incident to the police – often because people think their issue was not serious enough to report.

Head of Thames Valley Police’s Community Policing Command, Superintendent John Batty, said: “Antisocial behaviour can take many forms, from noise nuisance and graffiti to neighbour disputes and drug dealing. It can be a real blight on people’s lives.”

He added: “ASB is not a crime in itself but a description for a number of behaviours, many of which can be criminal offences.

“The police are not always the agency with the right powers to tackle every ASB issue, for instance local authorities have the powers to deal with noise nuisance. However, it is important that agencies work in partnership, to identify and tackle the root causes of ASB. In order to do that effectively, we need people who are affected by ASB to report it to us.”

Towards the end of last year, police visited graphic design students from Milton Keynes College to talk to them about ASB and the effect this can have on communities.

The students were invited to design adverts to support the campaign and encourage reporting of any instances of antisocial behaviour that they see. The winning design was by Milton Keynes College student Chiamaka Ahaneku.

Deputy Head of School for Arts and Media at MK College, Kyle Kirkpatrick, said: “It’s fantastic that our students have been able to support the new campaign against antisocial behaviour from Thames Valley Police...We’re particularly proud of Chiamaka for producing the winning design, and we’re hopeful that her design can help to make the campaign a success”.

You can report antisocial behaviour to police here.