Cost of anti-social behaviour cited

Effective measures against anti-social behaviour can lead to significant long-term savings in social services, health and education, as well as bringing immediate benefits for communities, a workshop in Dublin was told yesterday.

Jill Strachan, assistant director of the Respect task force at the British Home Office in London, said that in Britain it was estimated that a family that behaves anti-socially costs local authorities at least an extra £250,000 per annum, based only on fire service call-out costs, vandalism to the family's own property and the fall in rent for other property in the area as a result of the anti-social behaviour.

"The treasury at the moment is particularly interested in trying to look at families and asking: 'how could we have predicted almost before their children were born that they were going to behave in an anti-social manner, and how could we intervene earlier?'," she said.

Ms Strachan, who was addressing a workshop organised by Dublin City Council's Joint Policing Committee, said the overriding aim of the Respect agenda "is that the public - particularly families in deprived communities - see and feel that something is being done" about anti-social behaviour.

Ian Walker, a member of the Respect task force, said that King's Cross, an area in the London borough of Camden, had been "transformed" by anti-social behaviour orders (Asbos). He said the crime level had reduced by 47 per cent in three years, mainly because drug dealers were taken off the streets and the robbery rate declined.