POWERS are in place to tackle anti-social behaviour but police and other relevant agencies need to ensure they work together on the problem, the Home Secretary warned.

The head of the police inspectorate has called for urgent action from senior officers to improve understanding of the toll that incidents take on communities. Chief Inspector of Constabulary Denis O’Connor said the recording of information about harassment, criminal damage and verbal abuse was “inadequate” and must be improved immediately.

Home Secretary Alan Johnson said mechanisms should be in place for action to be taken incidents reported on a continual basis – even if it was as trivial as sweet wrappers being pushed through letterboxes.

A snapshot survey by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary found officers did not turn up to almost one in four (23%) anti-social behaviour complaints and as a result almost all those victims were unhappy with police.

Mr Johnson said: “We have got all the powers in place to tackle anti-social behaviour.

“What we need to ensure is that all the agencies, not just the police, are working together.”

Mr Johnson said police forces should use the Inspectorate’s comments as a way to improve matters.

“Forces need to look at this to help in a constructive way to show they can improve and for the public to visibly see where the problems are,” he added. “Independent monitoring is a crucial part of getting our response to anti-social behaviour absolutely right.”