Lack of long-term support for victims of anti-social behaviour, report finds

There is a “lack of long-term, holistic support and assistance” for victims of anti-social behaviour in Scotland, a report has found.

The Independent Working Group on Antisocial Behaviour has now called for dedicated funding to be set aside to provide this “long-term, independent support”.

It made the plea after discovering “very few areas in Scotland” benefit from independent services which provide such help.

The working group, which was set up by the Scottish Government, said in its report: “In fact only one area described having this in place and also raised that funding was at risk of being cut completely.”

The call for ring-fenced funding for improved support came as the report – which made five recommendations and set out 45 actions it wants to see – said: “The harm caused by anti-social behaviour was, at times, very high and long-term.

“Victims described a wide range of impacts on mental health including fear, anxiety, stress, loss of confidence, isolation, and in some cases victims described symptoms of trauma.”

In addition to the impact on mental health, it added: “Some victims reported lack of sleep, stress that affected their physical health and impacted on other aspects of their lives.”

There are also a “variety of financial impacts”, with people who have suffered from anti-social behaviour having to pay for repairs to damage to their property or having in some cases to “resort to purchasing security equipment in an attempt to deter the behaviour”.

Some victims have had to move home “to get away from the behaviour”, the working group said, adding that one woman told how she lost her job “due to the impact on her abilities to carry out her tasks because of lack of sleep over a prolonged period of time”.

The report said: “Many victims felt the impacts on them, of anti-social behaviour, were underestimated or even trivialised by professionals and that responses were inadequate and ineffective as a result.

“Many victims received no help.”

One victim told the working group they had been suffering as a result of anti-social behaviour for more than two years, having to contact either the police or the council “almost every day”.

Despite this, they said: “We have received no help at all.”

Another victim, whose partner was terminally ill, told the working group that the person responsible for anti-social behaviour against them “seemed to get a kick” from this.

The victim said: “He started banging on our doors and our windows and dropping heavy objects on to his floor. He sent children round to scream outside and let air out of our car tyres.

“He smashed glass over our path and spread excrement over our front door. He would sharpen homemade knives outside our window and box my car in – once for 10 days.

“He started following me to my workplace. Then he started a fire in the communal garden, using hazardous waste. The carers and I were worried that we wouldn’t be able to get my partner out the house if there was another fire.”

The working group said all the victims it interviewed “felt that there was a complete lack of effective responses to persistent and serious anti-social behaviour in their local area”.

It added: “Many felt the only option presented to them was that they left their own home.

“As well as feelings of unfairness of this, for many victims, for example owner-occupiers, this was not an option.”

Victims and community safety minister Siobhian Brown accepted the report “presents several cases where there were significant shortcomings in how victims have felt treated by local services”.

She added: “These testimonies are troubling and I take them very seriously.

“While reported anti-social behaviour has broadly been in decline over the last decade, where issues arise these can have very serious impacts for people and communities.

“That is why we are committed to tackling anti-social behaviour and commissioned this report.”

The Scottish Government will now “carefully consider” the report’s recommendations, along with Police Scotland and the local government body Cosla to “discuss the actions we need to take”, the minister said.

The working group called for an independent oversight board to be set up to “lead a whole-system approach” to tackling anti-social behaviour.

The report stressed: “Anti-social behaviour is a result of deep-rooted societal issues – to be successful in reducing anti-social behaviour we must reduce poverty, increase housing stability, reduce food insecurity, and address gaps in services such as youth work and lack of mental health resources. These are the key drivers of anti-social behaviour.”