Case by case review could see banning orders rescinded

POLICE are opening up more than 170 ‘Asbo files’ to see if a raft of banning orders need to stay in place.
One-time troublemakers are facing the realistic prospect of seeing their Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (Asbos) torn up if police officers find that they have managed to put the brakes on their nuisance behaviour.
The new inquiry is the first case-by-case review of Camden’s runaway use of banning orders since the numbers of Asbos being obtained in the borough began to spiral around three years ago.
Camden, through a partnership team of council officials and police officers, has obtained by far the greatest number of Asbos in London.
But both the Town Hall and the police now agree that it is time to reflect on the ferocious pace and analyse their success.
PC Tim Pescud, from the Anti-Social Behaviour Team, said: “We are looking at each file to see what has happened in each case. It is a long task because we have almost 180 orders now. We are looking to see if the orders can be varied or discharged. Cer-tainly, if someone has kept their nose out of trouble for three years and then we will look at whether the orders can be discharged.”
Senior officers confirmed the review had already begun at a community liaison meeting on Thursday night.
Superintendent Martin Richards told Thursday’s meeting at the Irish Centre in Murray Street, Camden Town: “There has been a lot of discussion about the pros and cons of Asbos. We think they are a good thing but we need the review to evaluate their effectiveness.”
The orders are meant to be meted out as a last resort to stop Camden’s worst troublemakers in their tracks and break up their often-entrenched pattern of bad behaviour.
But the number being hit with the bans in Camden has spiralled in the last four years with drug dealers, prostitutes, noisy neighbours, unruly youths and graffiti vandals all being taken to court and being told to shape up.
In the past those hit with Asbos could only get the bans lifted through a successful court appeal.
The inquiry comes after a lively debate over whether Asbos have improved Camden and the formation of the pressure group Asbo Concern, which demands a national policy re-think.
A repeated concern is a high breach rate which Asbo critics say show that the orders fail to change troublemakers’ behaviour.
The breach rate is 45 per cent in Camden but police say the statistics are too simplistic.
PC Pescud said: “People don’t realise that Asbos are to protect the community as well as trying to help the person who the order is served on. If they are picked up for a breach then we are protecting the public because they were doing something they shouldn’t be doing.
“The breach rate doesn’t make a distinction about when the breaches occur. Someone could breach their order in the first week and then not again for four years. It would be a successful order but it would go down on the stats as a breach.”