Tuesday, 18 August 2009

Is anti- social behaviour increase connected to temperature

We have experienced a sharp increase in reported cases of anti-social behaviour in Purewell and Stanpit over the last couple of weeks and I have to wonder if this is due to the increase in temperature. Certainly statistics would support the theory that the more people that are outside their homes the greater the number of complaints that we get.It may be of course that school holidays result in our kids being more evident on the streets and one of the factors may be that our residents have a concern when kids gather together. I not so sure if I can entirely accept the they present a clear and present danger if all they are doing is kicking a ball or riding on their skateboards, and yet a number of complaints are directed at them and about those issues. If we have evidence of delinquency, violent behaviour or vandalism then we need to be aware and report accordingly but from what I have seen this is not the case and I am seriously concerned that we are developing and anti-children approach and they can do no right.I am also a bit confused as to whether or not an increase in reports is a good or a bad thing. Good in that residents are taking action, bad in that the reports would indicate a society unable to deal with relatively minor concerns. Now, that I know is controversial but what I am getting at is communities being strong enough to deal with problems without thinking that it is always someone else's problem. It is very disappointing that after all the hard work done by our SNT and volunteers that we may be back to the levels of two years ago, well if there is a link to temperature and weather I shall be watching the forecast very carefully. On second thoughts and considering the dreadful record of our weather forecasts this year I will put some seaweed out and take note.

1 comment:

Purewell & Stanpit PACT said...

For many years the ASB stats for this ward have shown a sizable decrease, yet at the same time there has been little difference in the number of ASB incidents being discussed at street corner meetings. The reason for this is that very little has been reported. For the past 9 or 10 months we have been putting pressure on the residents to report the incidents via 222 222, so the amount of reported incidents will have increased by quite a number.

The short term issue with this is that the ASB crime stats will show an increase in reported ASB, while in the long term the overall quality of life will show an increase, and the ASB will show a downturn.