A BIG fall in the use of anti-social behaviour contracts (ASBOs) in the region does not mean the police are going soft on louts, the Home Secretary insisted yesterday.

May 9 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

In a key speech relaunching the Respect agenda, Jacqui Smith said police forces and local councils were now using other – quicker – measures to crack down on troublemakers.

Hailing a big increase in acceptable behaviour contracts (ABCs) and parenting contracts, Ms Smith insisted: “There is no let-up in tackling anti-social behaviour.”

Indeed, she urged the police to go further by “harassing” badly behaved youths, openly filming them and hounding them at home to make their lives a misery.

Ms Smith’s hardline comments came as the Home Office revealed the number of ASBOs issued plunged in 2006 in both Merseyside (from 128 to 94) and Cheshire (from 98 to 43)

Similarly, across England and Wales, ASBOs – for so long the flagship policy to tackle low-level crime – declined by a third over just 12 months, from 4,123 in 2005 to 2,706 in 2006.

The Tories leapt on the statistics as evidence the government was “giving up on ASBOs”, because so many of the orders are breached.

Insisting ABCs were no more successful, Shadow Home Secretary David Davis, said: “The Home Secretary is simply saying what we have been telling her for a decade – that if you put more police on the streets you will cut crime.”

But Ms Smith vowed: “We are not taking it easy on anti-social behaviour; we are getting in early – putting a stop to problems before they get out of control and before ASBOs are required.”

The figures provide ample proof of the shift away from ASBOs in Merseyside, which handed out 695 ABCs and 914 parental orders or contracts up to September last year.

The figures were lower in Cheshire – 308 ABCs and 74 parental orders or contracts – but still suggest the newer measures are more popular.

Acceptable behaviour contracts are voluntary agreements to persuade troublemakers to “take responsibility for unacceptable behaviour” – with the threat of an ASBO if they do not.

A parenting contract, also voluntary, aims to change a child’s behaviour – perhaps by attending school, regularly, or staying at home at certain times.

It can be turned into a court-issued parenting order.

In her speech, Ms Smith urged police to follow the example of the Essex force, whose four-day “frame and shame” operations film and harass persistent offenders on problem estates.

Those guilty of anti-social behaviour should also have their road tax, car insurance, TV licence and council tax payments checked, she said.

Ms Smith added: “I want police and local agencies to focus on them, by giving them a taste of their own medicine.”