Give Local Communities The Power To Tackle Anti-Social Behaviour

3.04.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 1st May 2008

Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesperson Peter Wilcock has called for communities to be given greater powers to tackle anti-social behaviour and claim back their town centres.

He said, "If we want people to feel safer in their communities, we need to give local people the chance to take effective action to tackle crime. Liberal Democrat councils across Britain have already shown that if you give local communities real powers, they can have a positive effect. If the Government focused more on chasing criminals than on chasing headlines, then we could see even greater progress in tackling crime across the country. We want it to be easier for local communities and councillors to close pubs and clubs that create problems for local people. The Government must also scrap its wasteful ID Card scheme and use the money to put more police on the beat."

Police statistics are unreliable, where officers are coming under pressure not to report crime. Something as serious as a shooting is going to be recorded, but, as far as other crime is concerned, fewer and fewer people are bothering to report crime to the police.