Anti-Social Behaviour Orders

Vandalism, fly-tipping, begging and drinking in the street are all types of anti-social behaviour.

In fact it’s is any kind of intimidating or threatening behaviour that damages the quality of life of an individual, family or community.

Essex Police is working to tackle this kind of behaviour and one of the tools available to help our officers and staff do this are Anti-Social Behaviour Orders. Since 2007 more than 70 ASBOs have been granted in Essex.

Commonly known as ASBOs and launched in 1999, anti-social behaviour orders are court orders that forbid a person from a specific behaviour such as visiting a certain area, swearing or spending time with particular individuals.

Police forces can apply for an ASBO to be issued against a person if they are able to collect enough evidence to show that an individual’s behaviour is frightening or intimidating a person or whole community.

ASBOs are civil orders not criminal penalties. That means they won’t appear on a person’s criminal record. However if an ASBO is breached, a criminal offence has been committed and can result in a fine or up to five years imprisonment.

In this film we meet Tina Hall, Anti-Social Behaviour support officer, and PCSO Gemma Cheek who explain how ASBOs are proving effective in controlling anti-social behaviour.

If you are experiencing anti-social behaviour you shouldn’t ignore it but report it to us as soon as possible.

There are many ways to report anti-social behaviour. To find out how to report it and what happens when you make a report, visit the Anti-Social Behaviour section of our website.