Anti social behaviour victims need more from police - report

26/06 Updated: 28/06 11:55

ONLY half of victims of anti social behaviour are happy with the actions taken by police, a new independent survey has revealed.

West Midlands Police scored below the national average in the satisfaction survey by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC).

There are around 1,000 victims of anti social behaviour across the region every month.

But the watchdog said not enough was being done to identify repeat and vulnerable victims.

Its report found information on repeat callers was reviewed every week, but crucially they were not always identified when they first contacted police.

Despite this significant improvements had still been made by the force since its last inspection two years ago, HMIC added.

The force has accepted the findings and said tackling anti social behaviour remained one of its priorities with a new marker system set to be introduced next month to allow call centre staff to identify repeat victims instantly.

It also said its own satisfaction survey of victims showed 74 per cent were happy with police intervention compared to the HMIC's 50 per cent figure.

The national average was 55 per cent.

Assistant Chief Constable Sharon Rowe said: "Officers across the force take reports of ASB seriously and dedicated neighbourhood teams are regularly tackling the local issues that effect residents.

"Clearly we always want to improve on these numbers, and have other areas in which we can improve, and are continuing the development of our approach to anti social behaviour across the force to ensure we enhance our delivery even further."