When is a crime not a crime?

I am getting increasingly frustrated with the use of the term "Anti-Social Behaviour".

I first came across this phrase as an "official term" when I worked in the Policy Department of Victim Support and was working on some of the initial attempts by the new Labour Government to reform the criminal justice system. Back then I could just about see what the Government was aiming to do: streamlining youth justice through the use of ASBOs, freeing up police time for "higher level crime". 

But many of us were wary that what people in communities saw as "crime" might be downgraded by the authorities, further damaging public confidence in the police, especially in certain communities. To a certain extent, that is what appears to have happened.

Today we learn of the death of a 64-year-old man in Hattersley, Greater Manchester, after he confronted a group of youths who had been harassing him regularly and over a long period of time, according to his neighbours.

There have been other instances of where vulnerable peope have been targetted in campaigns of hate and intimidation, some of which I find too upsetting to read about again, especially the case of Fiona Pilkington who killed herself and her daughter, Francecca (who had learning difficulties), after constant and sustained abuse which the police failed to act on in any meaningful way.

Now, the Chief Inspector of Constabulary has stepped into the debate about how the police deal with anti-social behaviour, saying that police forces had a very patchy record in properly recording complaints and not adequately identifying vulnerable people. Shockingly, it was found that in 23% of anti-social behaviour, police simply failed to respond.

I think it has now got to the point where it can be concluded that the experiment with spliting incidents into "crimes" and "anti-social behaviour" has failed. The police need to get back to basics and concentrate their resources on real neighbourhood policing by keeping officers in situ longer so that they can learn more about the communities they serve.