Antisocial behaviour

What is Antisocial Behaviour?

Antisocial behaviour has a very specific legal definition in Scotland.

Where this is met an antisocial behaviour investigation will be started.

However more appropriate measures could be used depending on the situation.

The Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 provides that a person engages in antisocial behaviour if they:

• act in a manner that causes or is likely to cause alarm or distress; or
• pursue a course of conduct that causes or is likely to cause alarm or distress
  to at least one person not of the same household as them.

Shetland Islands ASB Strategy 2022–28

The ASB strategy has been published here & recording of the 1st committee presentation can be found here .

Currently staff are making contact with all community councils to ensure that they are aware of these services and that nothing is being missed within their communities.
It maybe March 2023 before this is complete but the work within the strategy is ongoing.

Shetland ASB Stats

We can get Freedom of Information Requests on ASB. However keeping useful statistics on ASB can be quite difficult for a number of reasons listed below.

• Defining ASB is difficult. One behaviour could be asb to one person and not to another. So just because a behaviour can be asb we cannot assume all such behaviours are asb.
• ASB can cover criminal behaviour or civil behaviour and previously the strategy has only looked at civil behaviour however in order to prevent asb it is useful to look at all types of asb.
• Lots of agencies deal with ASB and using asb specific measures might not always be the best or most appropriate way to tackle asb in a situation.
• Prevention of ASB is often covered by different services and agencies and hard to measure.
• Prevention of ASB often impacts and resolves other problems too.
• Initiatives that resolve other problems may also prevent ASB.
• Under reporting and not recognising ASB when it happens. What a member of the public feels is asb or not may stop them reporting it in the first place and that is why we encourage early informal reporting focusing on resolving the problem rather than defining it as any type of behaviour.

The ASB Strategy has an ASB Action Plan (appendix 3). This plan helps us to take an outcome focused approach to tackling ASB inline with the national strategy this is focused on preventing it from happening in the first place. Many actions on this plan maybe carried out by services for other reasons anyway but it is important to recognise that this will also help to prevent asb too. There are eleven sections to this plan and only 4 of these cover behaviours (Noise, Violence, Vehicles & Dogs). The other 7 sections cover what could be termed as underlying issues either for people or services or sometimes both (Communication, Isolation, Education, Unreported, Transition, Restore & Fear).

With all this inmind we are working on publishing up to date statistics on ASB and Police Scotland also issue statistics on behaviour that maybe classified as ASB.

Police Scotland give regular updates on statistics around incidents they deal within the local community council meetings.
Local Policing Plan for Shetland is found here shetland-local-policing-plan-2020-23.pdf (scotland.police.uk) (external link)
 

Local Analysis

Inaddition to the above we would also like to highlight some bits of local analysis that has taken place as part of our efforts to reduce ASB in Shetland.
As above we are working on uploading useful information around each of these bits of research.

• Mediation research from 2013.
• Noise Presentation 2019-20.
• STACC research. Working with some more vulnerable people in our communities.
• Financial Handbook. [External Link]
• Shetland Antibullying Framework. [External Link]
• NHS Shetland research on Island Myth "Folk will know" (If you are connected you might know. If you are not connected you will not know!)