The team presented information to representatives from the Scottish Government, other councils and organisations, highlighting the improvements being made across communities thanks to the successful joint working between our antisocial response service and Police Scotland.

They highlighted Out of Hours Response Team and Police Scotland joint visits at weekends which target known areas of antisocial behaviour. These ‘Hotspots’ were identified by residents and partners, and include homes as well as lanes, stairwells and open space areas where anti-social behaviour has been reported. Swift, joint intervention at over 800 visits saw 56 per cent of these resolved, with no further complaints received.

Other aspects of the service highlighted were the mediation service which helps resolve low level neighbour disputes. Early intervention prevents disputes escalating to cases of more serious anti-social behaviour, and 96 per cent of neighbours engaging in mediation see an improvement in their situation.

Visits have also been made to secondary schools to show the consequences of anti-social behaviour across communities.

Elaine McHugh, head of housing services with North Lanarkshire Council, said: “Since our presentation we’ve received enquiries from other councils and partners interested in re-modelling their service to match ours.

“The changes we made to our service are having a real impact in reducing antisocial behaviour across our community, and the more proactive element means we can take tough action as and when antisocial behaviour is taking place.

“Public confidence in the service continues to grow and we speak to our residents regularly. Monthly customer satisfaction and feedback surveys are carried out with a 94.12 per cent overall satisfaction rate – an increase from 68.32 per cent in the previous year. We will continue to use this feedback to ensure we meet the needs of all our residents.”

Inspector Alistair Anderson of Motherwell and Wishaw Community Policing Team added: “We have long since recognised the importance of strong partnership working, and this initiative is a great example of how working together has had a positive impact on the local community. Tackling antisocial behaviour is a force priority and this framework affords us a great opportunity to work with our partners and get to the root of the problem.

“By identifying repeat locations and offenders, we are able to take the appropriate action ranging from advice and guidance, through to formal warnings, the issuing of Fixed Penalty Notices or in reporting offenders to the Procurator Fiscal.”

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