One of the biggest problems affecting communities in Cornwall is anti-social behaviour. This covers malicious, thoughtless and inconsiderate activity. These have the potential to damage community life.
Every week new acts of anti-social behaviour are reported. For all those reports however, far more remain unreported. People are forced to put up with behaviour that can blight all areas of personal and community life.
What is anti-social behaviour?
Anti-social behaviour is defined in law as:
'behaviour which causes or is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more other persons not of the same household as the perpetrator'
Examples of anti-social behaviour can include:
- verbal abuse
- vandalism
- joyriding
- noise nuisance
- criminal damage
- assault
- throwing missiles
- underage drinking
- engaging in threatening behaviour in groups
- harassment of residents or passers-by
Tackling anti-social behaviour
Tackling anti-social behaviour is not just down to one person or service. Anti-social behaviour affects the whole community. The Police and Cornwall Council rely on the community to report and account for incidents of anti-social behaviour.
You do not have to put up with anti-social behaviour. We, along with our partner agencies, have a range of powers available to us for dealing with anti-social behaviour.
Further information
For further detailed information relating to anti social behaviour please visit the anti-social behaviour page on the Safer Cornwall website.
Anti-social behaviour information
Reporting anti-social behaviour
It is important that you report instances of anti-social behaviour.
Report anti-social behaviour to the Council
Report anti-social behaviour to the Police
Social Housing Tenants in Cornwall
If either of the following statements apply to you?
- you are experiencing anti-social behaviour as a tenant of a social housing provider
- the person committing anti-social behaviour is a tenant of a social housing provider
If so, you should report any incidents of anti-social behaviour to the relevant housing provider in the first instance.
A list can be found on the Safer Cornwall website.
Personal accounts / diaries
Personal accounts or diaries show the repeated nature of anti-social acts. In doing so, they can help to build up consistent evidence about the nature, frequency and severity of anti-social acts. This helps to quantify the effects that anti-social behaviour has on a personal level. It also helps to show the harassment, alarm or distress it causes to individuals. People often feel more comfortable keeping a personal account as opposed to giving a formal statement to the police. However, victim personal statements given to the police are also a powerful form of evidence.