ASBOs to be replaced in new government proposals

A new ‘community trigger’ is to be introduced to replace the 'discredited' ASBO scheme, and make it quicker and easier for police to investigate complaints of anti-social behaviour.

Under the new plan, which aims to stop repeat victims suffering unnoticed by giving individuals and communities the power to make police take action, forces will be required to investigate any single incident reported by at least five people, or any three complaints made by the same person.

The government says it wants to take the existing 19 powers and reduce them to six which are connected to the behaviour of people, the protection of places and the powers of the police.

Under the new proposals:

• Asbos and six related orders relating to the behaviour of people, such as Drink Banning Orders, will be replaced in England and Wales by two orders: the Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) and a Crime Prevention Injunction (CPI)
• The CBO will be available to be used against people convicted of crime
• The CPI is a civil order and similar to the existing Asbos - but ministers say it will be available at an earlier stage of bad behaviour and be easier and faster to use
• CBO and CPI have a lower standard of proof and could be put in place in days or even hours, the government says
• Ten current laws relating to protection of places will be reduced to three types of Community Protection Orders
• Police powers to allow them to force people to move on are to be consolidated into a single power under which the police will not need to designate a dispersal zone in advance and can order people to leave an area for up to 48 hours
• People who fail to comply with the order face a £2,500 fine or three months imprisonment

To read the full report from the BBC, click here.

To read the governments whitepaper, click here.

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