DFPCC, Mike Johnson, today launched a new campaign to encourage the public to report anti-social behaviour to the Police.

The county-wide campaign is a part of the wider Safer Streets Fund from the Home Office. The Office of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner made a successful bid to the fund in July 2022 for £760,108 to reduce anti-social behaviour in Carlisle and Barrow-in-Furness.

Anti-social behaviour in the county has already reduced by 28.2% over the last year, dropping from 6,858 incidents to 4,922. Nuisance anti-social behaviour was the most common type reported both in 2022 (79%) and so far in 2023 (78%).

Across the county, the anti-social behaviour hotspots were identified as our most urban areas including Carlisle, Barrow-in-Furness, Workington, Whitehaven, Penrith and Kendal.

Reducing anti-social behaviour has been a priority in Cumbria over the last year with the Neighbourhood Policing Teams (NPTs) who have deployed various tactics to help reduce anti-social behaviour in communities.

Speaking on the campaign, DPFCC, Mike Johnson, said: “We welcome the overall reduction of anti-social behaviour across the county and in local towns, thanks to the dedication of the Police and partner agencies.

“Here in Carlisle, this has been evidenced in the Morton Manor area which has seen a reduction in anti-social behaviour thanks to the collaborative work between the Police and the staff at the local community centre.

“We want to continue to tackle anti-social behaviour in the county and we really need residents to report anti-social behaviour in order for the Police and partner agencies to understand the issues, work together and come up with solutions that tackle the issues in our local communities."

Chief Superintendent Lisa Hogan, Cumbria Constabulary, added: “We are pleased to note that there has been reduction in anti-social behaviour across the county.

“During the past year, we have introduced a number of dedicated community beat officers (CBOs) into our neighbourhood policing teams. The primary role of a CBO is to work closely with communities and partner agencies to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour which is impacting the local area.

"We are pleased that this work is showing positive results and we are doing all we can to prevent incidents, as well as robustly responding to issues which have been reported to us."