Antisocial behaviour – local involvement and accountability
The Antisocial Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 gives victims of antisocial behaviour and low level crime a say in the out-of-court punishment of the offenders involved.
The local policing body, the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime, is required to prepare a ‘community remedy document’. This document outlines a list of actions which might be appropriate for an offender or perpetrator of antisocial behaviour as a sanction without going to court. These actions must be either rehabilitative, restorative or punitive.
What is the community trigger?
- The community trigger allows victims and communities to ask for a response to persistent antisocial behaviour.
- It places a new duty on local agencies including councils, the police, local health teams and registered social housing providers to take action on complaints about antisocial behaviour.
- The community trigger cannot be used to report general acts of crime.
- It is not a complaints procedure and does not replace existing processes to make a complaint if you are not happy about the service you have received.
- Find out about our complaints and feedback procedure.
- We are required by law to publish annual figures on community trigger applications and the number of applications that resulted in the trigger being activated.
- The table below shows the applications made to activate the community trigger:
Community trigger applications
| Year | Applications received | How many met the threshold | Number of cases that resulted in further action |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2015 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2016 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | * | * | * |
| 2020 | * | * | * |
| 2021 | * | * | * |
| 2022 | 12 | 0 | 0 |
*We are unable to provide data relating to community triggers between 2019 and 2021 due to a loss of evidence.
When can the community trigger be used?
The community trigger can be used in the following situations:
-
If you've reported 3 incidents of anti-social behaviour in the last 6 months, to the police, your housing agency or us, and you feel that no action has been taken, or
- If five individuals in the local community have reported similar incidents of antisocial behaviour separately and no action has been taken.
How do I use the community trigger?
You can either:
The community trigger can be activated by a victim of antisocial behaviour, an individual on the victim’s behalf, a community or a business.
What happens next?
- You will get an automatic response when you submit your form.
- Within five working days we will send you a letter of acknowledgement detailing the timescales for the trigger process.
- A trigger panel with a senior representative from the relevant agencies will then meet to determine whether the report meets the community trigger threshold outlined above, and to identify an appropriate and proportionate action plan.
- Following the trigger panel meeting you will get a written response detailing the decision of the panel.