New role gets to grips with anti-social behaviour

Lancaster City Council has joined forces with Lancashire Police to reduce youth anti-social behaviour.

PCSO Karen Hodgson has joined the city council's anti-social behaviour team as a joint council/police youth officer. She will be looking at all aspects of youth anti-social behaviour.

This will include working with schools to deliver a message to parents and pupils around their responsibilities and investigate and resolve reports of youth related anti-social behaviour.

She will also conduct regular patrols on Friday and Saturday evenings, when it is most likely that problems will occur, and work with people who have been repeated victims of anti-social behaviour to ensure that they receive the help they need.

Speaking about her new role Karen said: “Anti-social behaviour (ASB) can be a real issue for individuals and communities but by tackling problems at the very start, so much can be done to prevent future incidents.

“My role will be to intervene at the earliest opportunity where a youth has been involved in ASB and ensure the most appropriate measures are taken to steer them onto the right path.

“This might be as simple as providing words of advice to the young person and their parents, formal anti-social behaviour agreements, restorative justice or, in the most extreme cases, a criminal sanction.”

Karen will also be offering help to parents and direct them to appropriate support services should they need it. Should the need arise she will also hold parents responsible for the conduct of their children.

Coun Brendan Hughes, Cabinet member with responsibility for community safety, added: “Everyone has the right to live peacefully and safely in their homes and communities.

"We are delighted to be taking a joined up approach to tackling ASB to send out a clear message that we will not tolerate this kind of behaviour."

Last updated: 26 July 2018