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It's Your Call... for a peaceful life
Written by yorkguides.co.uk   
York and Hull join campaign run by councils, police and Home Office to tackle

Julie Hemmings (Yorkshire Post)
YORK and Hull are among the communities joining a new campaign to fight anti-social behaviour.
It's Your Call was launched in the two cities yesterday to encourage residents troubled by nuisance neighbours, harassment and other forms of anti-social behaviour
The scheme is run in partnership between local councils and police forces, and the Home Office.
Louise Casey, the controversial civil servant who leads the Home Office's Respect initiative, said although part of a national scheme, It's Your Call was tailored to individual communities and what suited them best.
"It's encouraging people to take a stand against anti-social behaviour and do something about it," she said.
York and Hull now are among 47 communities designated as action areas under the scheme – almost half of these started last October and Ms Casey said she was heartened by the public's response, citing one scheme in the North-East which had received more than 500 calls since the dedicated number was set up.
She said the line would meet the needs of people who suffered from behaviour they probably would not deem sufficiently serious to call 999 about but which, over time, had a cumulative and damaging effect on their quality of life.
"Sometimes it's as simple as warning young people about their behaviour, a sit-down with their parents or mediating in disputes," she said.
"Unless we hear about things we can't do anything to help. And people have to be able to see the steps taken to tackle anti-social behaviour."
Describing anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) as a key tool for the authorities, she admitted they did not work in every case and stressed they often needed to be used in conjunction with other measures to be effective.
Ms Casey said often once an initial step was taken – such as obtaining an ASBO or acceptable behaviour contract – it gave residents the confidence to reclaim their community. "Nothing works in isolation and it doesn't always work – you have to keep at it," she said.
The civil servant said it was also a matter of building self-respect, blaming a lack of this for behaviour such as binge drinking, but warned these issues would not be resolved overnight.
She does not anticipate an increase in anti-social behaviour when licensing hours are extended in November but described binge drinking as a "fundamental problem" which is a priority now.
Yesterday a Home Office delegation visited Hull to tour some of the areas where anti-social behaviour initiatives are running, such as Queens Gardens, where a dispersal zone was set up to stop unruly groups gathering to drink and intimidate other park users.
In York residents will be able to report anti-social behaviour by calling the York Pride Action Line – 01904 551551.
Originally set up to report street environment problems such as graffiti and abandoned cars, the line will
take calls about other problems.
In a partnership between York Council, Safer York Partnership, North Yorkshire Police and the Home Office, callers will be routed either to council or police operators, depending on the nature of their report.
In Hull the number to use is that of the city council's call centre – 01482 300300 – run in conjunction with Hull Citysafe, with support from the Home Office's Together Tackling Anti-Social Behaviour Team.
The number is already known across the city as a point of contact for residents to get information on council services and now it will deal with inquiries relating to issues such as noise nuisance and racist abuse.
 
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