Labour drawing up new 'respect orders' to tackle anti-social behaviour

Ministers are resurrecting the 'Asbo' in a bid to crack down on anti-social behaviour.

Labour is drawing up new laws to create 'respect orders' plus enhanced police powers to confiscate nuisance vehicles, including e-scooters and e-bikes ridden dangerously on the pavement. 

Yobs will be handed the new type of order by a civil court and breaches could lead to immediate arrest and a jail sentence. 

However, respect orders will be less wide-ranging than their predecessor - anti-social behaviour orders - which were introduced by Tony Blair's government in 1998 and scrapped by the Coalition government in 2014. 

Asbos applied to anyone over the age of 10 and carried up to five years' imprisonment, but Labour's new measure will only be imposed on adults and carry a maximum two-year term. 

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper unveiled details of the new punishment plus additional measures allowing police to immediately seize vehicles being used in anti-social behaviour, eliminating the need for officers to issue a warning.

'Too many town centres and neighbourhoods across our country are being plagued by anti-social behaviour, be it street drinking, harassment or vandalism on the high street or noisy and intimidating off-road bikes terrorising our estates,' she said.

'Respect orders will give police and councils the powers they need to crack down on repeated anti-social behaviour, keeping our communities safe and ensuring repeat offenders face the consequences of their actions. 

'We will also make it easier to seize the vehicles causing misery in too many neighbourhoods, including deafening off-road bikes or e-scooters ridden dangerously on the pavement. 

'These new powers alongside thousands more neighbourhood officers and PCSOs will help this government deliver on our mission to take back our streets.' 

Respect orders will be used to tackle behaviour that 'has caused, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm or distress to another person'.

It could include alcohol and drug-related yobbery, vandalism or noisy neighbours, for example. 

Police will be able to ask a court to ban hooligans from town centres or specific locations such as parks. 

Perpetrators could be required to complete rehabilitation courses such as drug or alcohol treatment or an anger management course.

Apart from a jail term of up to two years, penalties for breaching an order could include curfews, unlimited fines and community orders such as unpaid work. 

Powers under the Police Reform Act 2002 which allow officers to seize vehicles being used in an anti-social manner will be amended to allow instant confiscation.

They new measures could be used against street racers and street cruisers, off-road bikers and 'car meets' that often involve excessive revving of engines, as well as to target electric bikes and scooters. 

Police in England and Wales recorded just over one million incidents of anti-social behaviour in the year to June. 

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But the number has steeply fallen from 3.9million in 2007-08, suggesting the change is down to recording practices rather than improving behaviour.

 According to the most recent Crime Survey of England and Wales almost 36 per cent of people had witnessed anti-social behaviour in their neighbourhood.

 Police forces, councils, social landlords, the Environment Agency and the NHS Counter Fraud Authority will be among the public bodies able to apply for respect orders. 

The new measures will be part of a forthcoming Crime and Policing Bill early next year. 

Once passed, pilot schemes will take place before respect orders are rolled out across England and Wales. 

Deputy Chief Constable Andy Prophet, of the National Police Chiefs' Council, said: 'Respect orders will give the police and councils the ability to crack down on those who persistently make our streets and public spaces feel unsafe.'

 It came as new figures showed more offenders are being handed a 'slap on the wrist' rather than being taken to court. 

Just under 144,000 'community resolutions' were imposed by police on offenders in the year to June, up from 140,000 the previous year.

 The lightweight penalty requires criminals to carry out 'restorative' work such as apologising to their victim, in exchange for avoiding prosecution. 

The Ministry of Justice data, published yesterday THU, showed 721 sex offenders were handed community resolutions in the year, up from 661. 

The number of incidents of violence against the person dealt with by community resolutions rose from 42,800 to 47,300 year-on-year, and for theft from 16,900 to almost 20,000.