Anti-social behaviour training 'could defuse conflict'

Members of the public should be given lessons in how to tackle anti-social behaviour, a charity has suggested. The RSA, which aims to solve "social challenges", says police officers or volunteers could provide training, including methods to defuse conflict.

The RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) says the English riots of a year ago "laid bare both the risks and strengths of self-organised citizen defence".

And it says there is a growing interest in the idea of training people to deal with low-level crime and aggressive behaviour on the streets.

Its report says the need to get people involved has become more urgent because of police cuts in England and Wales. But the Police Federation said officers did not have the resources to offer such training because of the cuts.

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