Anti-Social Behaviour

People ring Councillors all the time about anti-social behaviour and I've been having a good old think about it of late. How to actually get rid of it - as opposed to taking steps that make it look like something is being done - setting up another talking shop for example. The problem is -and it's something that I am certainly increasingly frustrated with - that yet another committee which meets and discusses the problem achieves absolutley nothing for people who are on the receiving end of what can only be described as 'a scourge'. Empathy is not what they want. Action is what they want.

So what about the anti-social behaviour office which seeks to take proceedings against the perpetrators of anti-social behaviour through the courts with a view to either preventing those people from entering certain estates or ultimately even evicting them from their homes. While this is probably a necessary ultimate sanction that should be available - it cannot be used to the extent that it would actually eliminate troublemakers - who can be and indeed, often are, very young children.

These children and young people seem to be almost immune to any sanction. Lets face it, no judge is going to evict a family over the actions of a 12 year old. No matter how much mayhem or even genuine fear that same 12 year old might be causing. And you can't evict everyone who commits anti-social behaviour. And even if you did then they would come under the homelessness act which means you'd have a statutory obligation to house them!

What about moving those who are 'under seige'? Well in some extreme cases this is a must. But what about if you are buying your house and can't move? What if every decent family moved out and the estate was left to the thugs? Who would have won then? And lets face it, quite a lot of anti-social behaviour emantes from the houses and homes of those living on private estates, with upstanding parents. It is by no means limited to those from council estates.

The solution has to have many facets. There is no easy quick fix unfortunately but there can and should be some early wins if everyone worked together.

The Gardaí have a central role to play. I'm concious that the term 'zero tolerance' has been bandied around so much that it has lost all credibility. But I believe that the Gardaí must act decisively - even (or perhaps particularly) with the younger age group that seem to be immune to the courts. Both because they seem to be so immune and because if they don't, then the younger ones will become progressively more violent and untouchable.

The approach should be many-fold: (i) Disruption - via confiscating their alcohol (if there is any which is very often the case), (ii) Removal - taking the trouble-makers away from the location and bringing them to the Garda Station and (iii) Parental control in the form of either calling them to or bringing them to the station to collect their little darling - regardless of the time of night and the disruption this causes. Ideally then (iv) an on-the-spot fine of at least €100 each and every time there is an offence of this nature would surely make people think twice - eventually.

If every time little Johnny or Mary had their cans taken away, and themselves brought to the station for a few hours to be collected by their parents who then had to pay a fine and wait a few hours to collect him/her then I'm pretty sure both little Johnny and his parent/s would get pretty fed up pretty quickly. This approach is immediate and doesn't involve the costly and time-consuming process of going to court.

This would of course demand a lot of committment and effort from the Gardaí but it would surely deliver huge benefits for communities in this City who sometimes feel like they are under seige and that there's nothing anyone, including the Gardaí can really do to stop it.

I'm also sure that there are some out there who would continue unabated such is their disregard for society - but they would have to be pretty committed in the light of such continued disruption. Also, even for parents who would not be (shall we say) 'model parents' at least they too would be disrupted and fined and made to take responsibility however unwillingly.

Of course the whole issue of alcohol and how young people are getting their hands on it also needs to be focussed on seriously, followed up and prosecutions undertaken.

I honestly believe that consistent offenders of this type of low-level but extremely disruptive for others anti-social behaviour will, if not stopped, sooner or later migrate onto more serious crimes. They might start throwing eggs at a neighbours door or spraying grafitti on a bus shelter but before long, if they get away with that, they'll be breaking mirrors off cars, drinking, perhaps doing drugs, then stealing, hitting people over the heads, moving on to unprovoked attacks, robbery, serious crime and perhaps even murder.

I would dearly love to be able to affect real change for the people who contact me. But in reality I, like them, feel helpless to do much more than just talk, debate, suggest solutions and try to bring about a different way of doing things. But I am also aware that the Gardaí didn't just come up the river in the last canoe and that they have been trying to tackle this issue with varying degrees of success or otherwise for quite a long time - and that I am certainly no expert.

But for what it's worth, these are my thoughts. My suggestion as to how this issue might be tackled. Are the resources there to do it? Is there a better approach? What can we all do to bring about actual change?

My role, I guess is to ensure that the Council has, and implements any relevant actions that are within our control. My role is also, as I see it, to try and suggest solutions which might lead to debate and ultimately, change.

I can't police estates. I can't tackle gangs (although have been known to try!) I can't take on the bad guys - although I would dearly love to sometimes. The one thing we cannot do as a society, is ignore this problem. Too many times if we choose to look the other way then things will only get worse until it comes to virtually our own doorstep.

And then we'll wonder how the hell it got that bad.