Fears over huge rise in instances of nuisance behaviour
Taking figures from Gosport East, West and Central shows a rise of 38 per cent in anti-social behaviour between the first three months of 2016 and the same time in 2017.
The statistics, from police.uk, show that between January and March 2016, there were 526 reports of anti-social behaviour in Gosport.
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Hide AdBut for the same period this year, the figure rocketed to 726.
Gosport East was the largest offender of the three neighbourhoods, with a total of 482 reports in the six months examined.
The figures show a trend for more anti-social behaviour in March, with consistently higher crime rates and a larger percentage increase than January and February.
A number of different offences come under the umbrella of anti-social behaviour – playing loud music, vandalism and street drinking.
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Hide AdChief Inspector Sharon Woolrich said: ‘There are a number of reasons why this may be the case – from people feeling more confident in reporting these incidents to us, to things like warmer weather or the dates of school holidays.
‘Examples of problems reported to us include anti-social behaviour in the Mill Pond estate and Alver Valley areas of Gosport, or street drinking in the High Street.
‘Some of the problems in Alver Valley related to moped nuisance, littering and noise.
‘I understand the concerns that the local community have, because anti-social behaviour covers a wide range of unacceptable activity that causes harm to an individual, a group of residents, or the local environment.
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Hide Ad‘We’ve been working with our partners at Gosport Borough Council and other agencies to understand and deal with the root causes of such behaviour.
‘The message to those people responsible for nuisance and anti-social behaviour issues is simple. We will take action, and this could lead to you having a criminal record.’
Cara Gough, who lives near the town centre, said: ‘I feel Gosport is quite bad as an area for littering, or specifically clearing up dog mess.
‘It is all over the place round here and people are clearly getting quite lazy about clearing up after their animals.’
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Hide AdTo report an anti-social disturbance, call 101, or 999 in an emergency.
Roger Allen, ward member for Hardway on Gosport Borough Council said the council was working with the police to tackle the disturbances.
He said: ‘We are working with the police who are doing their best to stamp this behaviour out. We are keen to prevent this from happening.’