Powers are there to deal with anti-social behaviour - so use them

Mar 11 2009 Agenda, Birmingham Post

Birmingham Labour MP Steve McCabe asks why the authorities will not use powers they possess.

MPs can come across some pretty unpleasant sights. I’ve seen a young policeman left alone in the dark with a body swinging above his head while he waited for a photographer to capture the scene.

A constituent came to my surgery and insisted on showing me his weeping MRSA wounds while I’ve dealt with normal hard-working people, driven to the edge of madness by persistent anti-social behaviour which the authorities fail to tackle.

A few weeks ago, I went to see a constituent about a housing matter. These are rarely productive events, as I have no control over housing in Birmingham. Most cases involve the City Council and result in lengthy and frustrating engagement.

I believe that some of the staff want to help but they are as ground down by the dysfunctional system as most of my constituents; others really need a shake-up or the sack.

On this visit, I met a tenant who has lived in her council flat for 11 years. She works and pays rent. She’s a single parent with two sons whom she tries to keep on the straight and narrow.

There are five other tenants in her block: an owner-occupier who pays a service charge; a family with two children who work hard and keep themselves very private; an older disabled lady who can’t get her mobility scooter through the front door, a registered addict and a drug dealer whom the police are currently trying to arrest.

These people live with piles of rubbish littering the rear garden of their flats. The wire glass panel on the front door was smashed over two months ago and still has a temporary piece of plastic covering it. They are too frightened to talk but I’ve given the police and the housing department details, although I’m confident they already have them.

The police in my patch are generally on the ball; the Chief Superintendent knows what’s she’s about. You can imagine my frustration - and that of my constituents’ – on being told by the local beat bobby that they can’t do anything to stop the drug activities or the anti-social behaviour in the block.

Frustration turned to disbelief when the police turned up at 4am looking for the drug dealer. When the drug dealer didn’t answer his door, they figured they had a right to bang on my constituent’s door, wake her up and ask if she knew where he was.

She was due to get up for work in less than three hours. For the record, she doesn’t know where he is, but she told the police that he comes and goes at all hours.

She’s asked the council to do something or to move her: their response has been to ask her to keep a log of comings and goings; try to provide descriptions of customers and take car registration numbers. These people come and go between 11pm and 3am but the responsibility is hers, or so it seems.

But why can’t the police do a surveillance operation? Surely, the police and the council understand that they would have the backing of the vast majority of local people if they installed temporary cameras? Why can’t the council use professional witnesses? Why does this drug dealer still have this tenancy?

There’s no shortage of powers to deal with this kind of thing. We need these powers to be put into action. So I welcome the new Victim’s’ Champion, Sara Payne but she must do more than talk to Government to keep the victim at the heart of the justice system.

These days, the prosecution of anti-social individuals crosses traditional boundaries into housing and other local authority functions. It is not just laws and resources that cause these problems, it’s their implementation. Something isn’t right when law enforcers think the solution is to tell the person being persecuted and threatened to collect the evidence as a matter of course. I’m sure that is not what I voted for.

My constituent is very frightened; her hands shake as she tells her story. She’s complained to the council and provided evidence of used syringes left in the washing area at the rear of her flat.

Guess what? No action’s been taken. After hearing her account, I took a walk around the back of the property and the first thing I came across was two used syringes, lying around for any child to pick up. I still have them, plus the photographs my constituent previously gave to the council.

It’s time to up the ante. I’ve written to the Chief Superintendent and the Area Housing Manager and demanded they work together.

I’m sure they will both be keen to resolve this matter quickly but should it really take the intervention of an MP and two senior managers to make sure my constituent can live free from fear? I don’t think so and hopefully neither will the Victim’s Champion.

* Steve McCabe is Labour MP for Hall Green