Anti-social behaviour (ASB) has been on the decline over recent years, the impact of such crime still remains similar to before, with communities filled with fear and a sense of unsafety.
Areas with higher ASB crime rates are more likely to face such issues, and for those responsible with preventing and managing these risks, they face an uphill battle to build back trust within the community.
We explore the counties, Councils and towns most and least impacted by ASB, and steps you can take to protect your community.
How Many ASB Incidents Were There in the UK Last Year?
The number of police-recorded ASB incidents reported in the year ending December 2024, including those by the British Transport Police, was 1 million.
ASB crimes include, fly-tipping, noise nuisance, rowdy behaviour and vehicle abandonment.
Fly-tipping incidents increased by 6% last year in England alone, demonstrating the severity of just one crime type that falls under ASB.
Some of the biggest issues have been named as vandalism, using/dealing drugs, intimidation tactics, and youths/teens/groups causing trouble on the streets.
The prevalence of certain ASB crimes will depend on aspects like the location type, number of residents, and economic state of the area.
However for areas most affected, the impacts of ASB can be severe, from creating distrust within a community and lowering property values to restricting business.
Are you aware of what areas are most and least affected by ASB? Find out below.
Worst Counties and Councils for ASB by Reported Incidents
All data has been taken from CrimeRate and has been calculated as incidents per 1,000 people to establish the crime rates across various areas of England and Wales.
Below provides a list of the top 10 worst Counties and Councils in England and Wales for ASB by reported incidents, ranking from the highest to lowest crime rates:
|
Counties and Councils |
Crime Rate Per 1,000 People |
|
Lancashire |
33.14 |
|
Tyne & Wear |
27.75 |
|
London |
26.38 |
|
Northumberland |
21.80 |
|
Durham |
21.21 |
|
North Yorkshire |
20.90 |
|
Clwyd |
20.63 |
|
Gwent |
20.08 |
|
Hertfordshire |
19.80 |
|
Bristol |
19.44 |
Top 10 Worst Towns for ASB by Reported Incidents
Below provides a list of the top 10 worst affected Towns in England and Wales, ranking the highest to lowest crime rates for ASB incidents:
|
Towns |
Crime Rate Per 1,000 People |
|
Haringey |
39.79 |
|
Middlesborough |
36.34 |
|
Brent |
36.25 |
|
Waltham Forest |
35.84 |
|
Hackney |
35.80 |
|
Newham |
35.55 |
|
Lambeth |
34.88 |
|
Ealing |
34.55 |
|
Islington |
34.31 |
|
Lewisham |
31.25 |
Lowest Reported ASB Incidents by County and Council
Below provides a list of the top 10 Counties and Councils in England and Wales with the lowest number of reported ASB incidents, ranking from the highest to lowest crime rates:
|
Counties and Councils |
Crime Rate Per 1,000 People |
|
Antrim |
0 |
|
Armagh |
0 |
|
Fermanagh |
0 |
|
Tyrone |
0.01 |
|
Rutland |
4.58 |
|
Suffolk |
5.77 |
|
Powys |
5.92 |
|
Oxfordshire |
6.59 |
|
Buckinghamshire |
7.11 |
|
Dyfed |
7.47 |
Top 10 Towns With the Lowest Reported ASB Incidents
Below provides a list of the top 10 least affected Towns in England and Wales, ranking the highest to lowest crime rates for ASB incidents:
|
Towns |
Crime Rate Per 1,000 People |
|
City of London |
1.16 |
|
Milton Keynes |
8.62 |
|
Wolverhampton |
10.05 |
|
Birmingham |
10.25 |
|
Kingston upon Hull |
10.64 |
|
Coventry |
10.92 |
|
Southend-on-Sea |
11.16 |
|
Portsmouth |
11.99 |
|
Reading |
12.03 |
|
Leeds |
12.08 |
6 Top Tips to Prevent ASB
With ASB covering such vast crime types and communities left facing the brunt of these consequences, Local Authorities and other Public Sector organisations are facing pressures to take further action against it.
Having supported several Public Sector organisations with preventing and reducing ASB in their area, we’ve gained first hand insight into the successful security measures you can implement for this.
We’d always recommend a blended approach of both small and large measures, and below suggests 6 top tips to prevent ASB:
Install Overt Mobile CCTV Systems
Mobile CCTV is an effective ASB reduction tool, offering both criminal deterrence and live monitoring and recording capabilities for evidence gathering.
Their simple presence is offputting to many individuals looking to engage in crime as it informs them they’re being monitored and this strips them of their concealment.
And in case this doesn’t prevent them, mobile CCTV units all have recording capabilities that will capture the event for evidential purposes. For advanced systems, this quality will match the standard required by the Police for criminal proceedings.
Additionally, systems like ourselves also offer remote monitoring services that can utilise audio deterrent features like sirens and live audio challenges to further prevent crime in real-time.
Boost Community Engagement
Individuals are less likely to engage in ASB if they’re held accountable to their community for any actions shown to harm this.
Types of community engagement vary from neighbourhood watch schemes, community-run events or youth clubs, volunteer programmes and social media campaigns.
The best community engagement projects will depend on the type of ASB crimes your area is faced with and the target audience you wish to reach.
You may find combining multiple methods, for example having a neighbourhood watch scheme across key ASB hotspots whilst also holding youth clubs to support young people.
To ensure successful engagement, carry out thorough research before any campaign to establish where the biggest issues lie that you need to address.
Invest in Early Intervention
A significant number of ASB are youth-related incidents due to factors like having fewer opportunities, boredom, personal struggles or external pressures.
Therefore, investing in early intervention can help to intercept the potential for crime as soon as possible, preventing crime and encouraging young people into healthy habits instead.
By providing additional outputs for young people to engage in, it will help to discourage them from involving themselves in illegal activity.
There are various ways you can invest in early intervention, including:
- Provide opportunities to engage in free or low cost sport, art and learning activities
- Fund mentorship schemes and youth outreach programmes
- Work alongside schools and other youth groups to address behavioural patterns
Early intervention is considered one of the best forms of ASB prevention, especially in areas where youth-related incidents are more common.
Increase Surveillance Visibility
Increasing your area’s surveillance visibility through an increased presence of Police and implementation of mobile CCTV can help to deter ASB by informing them that monitoring is present.
If potential offenders are aware they are being watched and recorded, they’re much less likely to engage in any illegal activity.
This is particularly effective in urban locations where there’s a higher likelihood of violent crime, so having Police patrolling those areas will both deter and deescalate.
For rural locations, the presence of overt mobile CCTV helps to create a strong security presence that’s unmistakable to potential offenders and aims to scare them from the scene.
Maintain Your Area and Improve Lighting
For some ASB crimes like fly-tipping, they rely on neglected, poorly lit and hidden spaces to conceal their crimes and minimise the risk of capture.
In order to strip them of this sense of security, maintaining the area and improving the lighting across crime hotspots will help to deter illegal activity within your community.
Maintaining landscaping like trimming hedges, cleaning up overgrown shrubbery and opening up line-of-sight in alleyways and other hidden locations removes any protection provided through them.
Offenders will utilise these hiding spaces to commit their crimes, so the more opportunities you remove, the better.
You should also ensure that any vandalism like graffiti is removed quickly as signs of neglect could lead to other criminals to commit additional crime at this location or within the community in general.
Ensure Enforcement Action is Taken
If criminals are aware that ASB crime isn’t dealt with by the relevant authorities, they may believe that it’s easier to commit illegal activities without facing any consequences.
That’s why it’s important that where possible, you should ensure the correct enforcement action is taken against any offenders found to engage in ASB.
This could be providing a warning or fine to the offender(s) or escalating criminal proceedings, depending on the severity.
However, because ASB can be difficult to prosecute, installing mobile CCTV will help record any incidents and increased lighting will help ease identification if any witnesses are present at the scene.
Redeployable CCTV ASB Use Case
Tackling ASB is complex, so when Nottinghamshire Council contacted us to see how we could help curb anti-social behaviour and criminal activity in the area, we were happy to take on the challenge with them.
Having over 20-years experience in security solutions and working with several Local Authorities and Councils to transform safety, our offerings are designed to overcome difficulties such as ASB.
As part of the continued support from the Safer Streets initiative, Nottinghamshire Council were able to invest in our Redeployable CCTV Cameras in hopes of preventing and reducing crime in Beeston.
Beeston is recognised as a vibrant and thriving area, however, issues surrounding anti-social behaviour and other criminal activity that would take place there left some of the community feeling unsafe.
Especially during the darker evenings where crimes such as anti-social behaviour became more prevalent there.
Following the implementation of our cameras along with Nottinghamshire Police and Broxtowe Borough Council’s ongoing work in the area, there was a 66% reduction in burglaries, a 45% drop in vehicle crime and a 27% decrease in anti-social behaviour.
These fully mobile units backed by a fully-managed security service use remote CCTV monitoring to proactively detect, assess and respond to crime at that moment.
This helps to prevent crime before it even takes place or minimise the damage and impact caused by ASB.
Why is WCCTV the Best ASB Reduction Solution?
Our ASB reduction solutions support numerous Public Sector organisations, from CCTV Towers and Redeployable CCTV Cameras to Body Cameras and ANPR integration.
Their customisable designs make them suitable for various settings, including busy urban areas and rural villages, adapting to your security needs.
All our cameras include the following key features:
- Infrared cameras to provide crystal clear imagery even in darkness, fog and mist
- Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) capabilities that offers extended coverage
- Near-360 degree view to capture threats at all angles
- AI video analytics that helps to detect the smallest suspicious behaviour such as, loitering
By combining these features with our world-class fully-managed service, our solutions successfully help to deter ASB crime, detect threats and provide those extra eyes in the sky for Local Authorities and Councils.
