Statement from Essex Police
“THIS summer, we’re showing people how to report anti-social behaviour issues to the correct agency online to give our officers and staff #MoreTimetoFightCrime.
Did you know last summer*, not including desk or investigation time, we spent the equivalent of 250 days tackling anti-social behaviour? Most of these issues could have been dealt with more effectively by a partner agency that has dedicated resources devoted to dealing with them.
The average anti-social behaviour incident takes 25 minutes to resolve. The majority of anti-social behaviour reported to us, should be reported to a partner agency and could be resolved quicker due to their enforcement powers.
Do you have a neighbour who has loud parties that continue into the early hours? This can be reported to your local council, who have out-of-hours officers who can deal with noise nuisance. We have no powers of prosecution for noise nuisance. Noise problems that need immediate action outside of council opening hours can be reported to your local council’s out-of-hours noise service: https://www.gov.uk/report-noise-pollution-to-council.
Do you have a suspected abandoned vehicle in your road? You can report it to your local council online who have resources allocated to resolving this for you: https://www.gov.uk/report-abandoned-vehicle.
Has a pile of rubbish appeared in your area? You can report it to the Environment Agency who can be contacted via a National Incident Control Centre on 0800 807060 or online: https://www.gov.uk/report-an-environmental-incident.
You can help us have #MoreTimetoFightCrime by reporting anti-social behaviour and non-policing matters to the correct agency.
For more information on how to report non-emergency crime, visit: www.essex.police.uk/doitonline.
For more information on anti-social behaviour, visit: www.essex.police.uk/ASB.
The reason people phone the Police regarding these issues is the fact they are marginally better at dealing with the problems than the incompetent council.