Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014

Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014

Long title An Act to make provision in connection with anti-social behaviour, crime and disorder, including provision about recovery of possession of dwelling-houses, to make provision amending the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, the Police Act 1997, Schedules 7 and 8 to the Terrorism Act 2000, the Extradition Act 2003 and Part 3 of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011; to make provision about firearms, about sexual harm and violence and about forced marriage; to make provision about the police, the Independent Police Complaints Commission and the Serious Fraud Office; to make provision about invalid travel documents; to make provision about criminal justice and court fees; and for connected purposes.
Citation 2014 c. 12
Introduced by Theresa May and John Taylor, Baron Taylor of Holbeach
Territorial extent England Wales England and Wales
Dates
Royal assent 13 March 2014
Commencement in force
Other legislation
Relates to Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, the Police Act 1997, Schedules 7 and 8 of the Terrorism Act 2000, the Extradition Act 2003 and Part 3 of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011
Status: Current legislation
Text of statute as originally enacted
Revised text of statute as amended

The Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 (c. 12) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which greatly expanded law enforcement powers in addressing anti-social behaviour. The Act replaced anti-social behaviour orders, the primary civil order in the United Kingdom since 1998, with criminal behaviour orders. Home Secretary Theresa May and John Taylor, Baron Taylor of Holbeach introduced the legislation.

The Act granted police the power of community protection orders to close businesses engaged in anti-social behaviour for up to 42 hours. If the order is reviewed favorably by a magistrate, that emergency closure can be extended to three months and then again for a total of six months. The Act also created Sexual Risk Orders, which can require suspects to give police advanced notification of intention to engage in sexual activities or face prison sentences. The SROs, requested by police, are issued by magistrates.[1]

The Act also created several new offences relating to forced marriage:

The latter two offences are defined separately for England and Wales and for Scotland. They apply to any marriage ceremony even if not legally binding.

The Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 is the law that guides what agencies can do about anti-social behaviour. It made big changes to the way agencies deal with anti-social behaviour, to make the powers simpler and faster and thus put victims first and get quicker respite for them.

The Act sets out the following 6 tools for agencies:

1. Part I Injunction.

An injunction can be granted against a person aged 10 or over if two conditions are met: (i) the court is satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the person has engaged or threatens to engage in anti-social behaviour; and (ii) the court considers it just and convenient to grant the injunction to prevent the person engaging in anti-social behaviour.

An injunction can be applied for by the police, a local authority, a housing provider, the British Transport Police Force, Transport for London, the Environment Agency or the NHS Business Services Authority. The fact that it can be applied for by a range of agencies should improve the current ASB Injunction, ensuring it can be used in a wider range of circumstances such as anti-social behaviour against hospital staff, shop staff, and nightmare neighbours in the private rented sector.

An injunction is granted for a specific period of time, will name the person responsible for supervising compliance with the injunction and can include a power of arrest if breached. The injunction will require the person who is committing anti-social behaviour either to do a certain thing or prohibit them from doing a certain thing with the aim of stopping the anti-social behaviour and also preventing the individual involved from getting into crime. This is a purely civil order, and does not give the individual a criminal record. See here for an example and comment.

2. Criminal Behaviour Order

The criminal behaviour order is being introduced to give agencies and communities what they need to deal with the hard-core of persistently anti-social individuals who are also engaged in criminal activity. The court may make a criminal behaviour order against the offender if two conditions are met: (i) the person has engaged in behaviour that caused or was likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not of the same household as the offender; and (ii) the court considers that making the order will help in preventing the offender from engaging in such behaviour.

The court may make a criminal behaviour order against the offender only if it is made in addition to a) a sentence imposed in respect of the offence, or b) an order discharging the offender conditionally. If the offender is under 18, the prosecution must find out the views of the local youth offending team before applying for a criminal behaviour order.

A criminal behaviour order is granted for a specific period of time and if it includes a requirement, must specify the person who is to be responsible for supervising compliance. It may include provision for the order (or a prohibition or requirement included in the order) to cease to have effect if the offender satisfactorily completes an approved course specified in the order.

Breaching the order would have tough criminal sanctions with a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison. See here for an example and comment.

3. Dispersal Powers

A constable in uniform may use dispersal powers to direct a person who is in a public place to leave the locality of that place and not to return for a specified period (maximum 48 hours) if two conditions are met: (i) the constable has reasonable grounds to suspect that the presence or behaviour of the person in the locality has contributed to or is likely to contribute to members of the public in the locality being harassed, alarmed or distressed, or the occurrence in the locality of crime of disorder; and (ii) the constable considers that giving a direction to a person under this section is necessary for the purpose of removing or reducing the likelihood of the events mentioned in (i). The constable may also require the surrender of an item being used to harass, alarm or distress members of the public.

The direction must be given in writing (unless not reasonably practicable), specifying the locality to which it relates and imposing requirements as to the time by which the person must leave and the manner in which they must do so (including the route). The constable should tell the person that failing without reasonable excuse to comply with the direction is an offence. If the constable reasonably believes that the offender is under 16, he/she may remove the person to a place where the person lives or a place of safety.

This power is designed to combine the most effective elements of the various current police powers into a single, less bureaucratic police power. A significant limitation in current police powers to disperse individuals causing ASB is that they have to be agreed in advance and can only be used in a pre-arranged area. In a fast moving situation, where groups can quickly convene to cause ASB or disorder and then move to different areas, the current powers are ineffective.

4. Community Protection Notices and Orders

An authorised person may issue a community protection notice to an individual aged 16 or over, or a body, if satisfied on reasonable grounds that (i) the conduct of the individual or body is having a detrimental effect, of a persistent or continuing nature, on the quality of life of those in the locality; and (ii) the conduct is unreasonable.

A community protection notice may be issued by a constable, the relevant local authority, or a person designated by the relevant local authority for the purposes of this section. A community protection notice imposes any of the following requirements on the individual or body issued with it:

a) A requirement to stop doing specified things

b) A requirement to do specified things

c) A requirement to take reasonable steps to achieve specified results.

They can only be issued if the offender has been given a written warning that the notice will be issued if their conduct doesn’t change and that they have been given enough time to have reasonably made those changes, and yet have chosen not to do so.

A person issued with a community protection notice who fails to comply with it commits an offence. See here for an example and comment.

5. Public Spaces Protection Order

A public spaces protection order is made by a Local Authority if satisfied on reasonable grounds that two conditions are met. Firstly, that (i) activities carried on in a public place within the authority’s area have had a detrimental effect on the quality of life of those in the locality; and (ii) it is likely that activities will be carried on in a public place within that area and that they will have such an effect.

The second condition is that the effect, or likely effect, of the activities is, or is likely to be of a persistent or continuing nature, such as to make the activities unreasonable, and therefore justifies the restrictions imposed by the notice.

A public spaces protection order is an order that identifies the public place and prohibits specified things being done in the restricted area and/or requires specified things to be done by persons carrying on specified activities in that area. The order may not have effect for more than 3 years and the Local Authority must consult with the chief officer of the police and the local policing body before issuing the order.

Failure to comply with a public spaces protection order is an offence. See here for examples and comment. PSPOs are contentious with a sense that too much power to curtail liberty is at stake.

6. Closure of Premises

A police officer of at least the rank of inspector, or the local authority, may issue a closure notice if satisfied on reasonable grounds that the use of the particular premises has resulted or is likely soon to result in nuisance to members of the public, or that there has been or is likely soon to be disorder near those premises associated with the use of those premises, and that the notice is necessary to prevent the nuisance or disorder from continuing, recurring or occurring.

A closure notice prohibits access to the premises for a period specified in the notice and may prohibit access by all persons except those specified, at all times and in all circumstances (or those specified).

Whenever a closure notice is issued an application can be made to a magistrates’ court for a closure order. This can be made by a constable or the local authority and must be heard by the magistrates’ court not later than 48 hours after service of the closure notice. A closure order can be for up to 3 months. See here for examples and comment.

There is also a new law for landlords – the Recovery of Possession of Dwelling Houses – allowing them to evict certain anti-social tenants.

For LOCAL INVOLVEMENT and ACCOUNTABILITY, the 2014 Act also includes the following 2 measures:

1. Community Remedies

A community remedy document is a list of actions which might be appropriate to be carried out by a person who has engaged in anti-social behaviour or has committed an offence and is to be dealt with without court proceedings. The document will be prepared by the local policing body and can be revised at any time.

The community remedy document must be prepared or revised in consultation with the chief officer of police for the area, whatever community representatives the local policing body thinks it appropriate to consult and undertake whatever other public consultation it thinks appropriate. All of these viewpoints must be taken into account.

The Community Remedy applies where:

a) A person such as a police officer (P) has evidence that an individual (A) has engaged in ASB of committed an offence

b) A admits to P that he or she has done so

c) P thinks that the evidence is enough for taking proceedings against A for a Community Prevention Injunction or taking other court proceedings, but decides that it would be more appropriate for A to carry out action of some sort instead, and

d) Where the evidence is that A has committed an offence, P thinks that the matter is not so serious that a conditional caution is appropriate.

Before deciding what action to invite A to carry out, P must make reasonable efforts to obtain the views of the victim (if any) of the anti-social behaviour, and in particular the victim’s views as to whether A should carry out any of the actions listed in the community remedy document.

2. Response to Complaints (Community Trigger)

The Community Trigger is the term generally applied to the Response to Complaints section of the 2014 Act and enables victims to requireagencies to carry out a review of their response to the anti-social behaviour they reported where they feel they did not get a satisfactory response.

If a person has made a complaint about anti-social behaviour in a particular local government area the relevant bodies in that area must carry out an ASB case review if

a) that person, or any other person, makes an application for such a review (activates the Community Trigger); and

b) the relevant bodies decide that the threshold for a review is met.

Each Local Authority area sets its own threshold but the most common threshold is likely to be if someone has complained 3 times in a 6 month period and feels nothing has been done. The review will focus either on the ongoing anti-social behaviour about which the original complaint was made or on the adequacy of the response to that behaviour. Either way, victims should see a full, independent review of their complaint.

The relevant bodies who carry out an ASB case review must inform the applicant of the outcome of the review and any recommendations made. They must also publish each year how many triggers have been activated and how many case reviews have been carried out.

Each Local Authority must specify the point of contact for activating the Community Trigger and ensure that applications made to that point of contact are passed on to all the relevant bodies in the local government area. The statutory guidelines advise that this information is made clear and that there be a number of ways of activating the trigger.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Man ordered to tell police if he plans to have sex". BBC News. 22 January 2016.

External links

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