LEAFLET 16
Anti-social behaviour, harassment and hate crime A guide for residents ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR, HARASSMENT AND HATE CRIME LEAFLET 16
This leaflet contains information and Anti-social behaviour guidance on anti-social behaviour, harassment and hate crime and what Antisocial behaviour is defined as: to do if you experience this or know “Behaviour by others that unreasonably interferes with people’s rights to the someone who does. use and enjoyment of their home and community.”
This can mean anything from persistent noise nuisance to serious violence or other criminal behaviour that affects your quality of life.
Racial harassment Racial harassment is defined as: “Any incident or behaviour aimed at individuals or their property because of their skin colour, nationality, race or culture.”
This can mean anything from behaviour intended to intimidate, dominate or harm, to abusive graffiti/racist graffiti, offensive literature, verbal abuse/racist language and physical assault/attack.
Hate crime Hate crimes can be against a person’s religious beliefs, gender, sexuality, disability or race.
This can mean threatening or abusive behaviour, verbal abuse, abusive graffiti, offensive literature, physical assault/ attack and damage to property.
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Other forms of harassment pictures. The behaviour is unwanted by the recipient and would be regarded as Bullying sexual harassment by any reasonable Bullying is coercion or intimidation person. which serves to undermine/downgrade the confidence and integrity of the We condemn all forms of anti-social bully’s target. behaviour, racial harassment, hate crime and other forms of harassment and are Examples of bullying are: committed to taking action against it.
• personal insults and name calling; Our commitment to you • persistent unwanted criticism; • public humiliation. We will not tolerate anti-social behaviour, racial harassment, hate Any difficulty in defining what crime or other forms of harassment in constitutes harassment or bullying our communities. We hope that you should not deter residents from will work with us to ensure that our complaining of behaviour that causes communities remain peaceful places them distress. to live in and encourage you to report such incidents whenever or wherever they occur. Sexual harassment This form of harassment involves Your commitment to us unwanted sexual attention that emphasises sexual status, including We expect you to be a good neighbour and respect your neighbours’ privacy sexual harassment between members and comfort. Under the terms of your of the same sex. It can be physical, tenancy and leasehold agreements it ranging from suggestive looks to is your responsibility to ensure that indecent assault or rape, or verbal, members of your household and ranging from belittling or suggestive your visitors do not cause a “nuisance remarks and compromising invitations, or annoyance to other persons in the to aggressively foul language or neighbourhood”. unwanted demands for sex, or displays of sexually suggestive or degrading
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How to report unacceptable • Beverley Police – non-emergency behaviour number 0845 6060222. • Scarborough Police – non- • Call the Police on 0845 6060247 emergency number 0845 and leave a message for the 6060247. Neighbourhood Team Officer to • Cleveland Police – non-emergency contact you. You will be contacted number 01642 326326. by phone, and no Police Officer will call at your home unless you have What happens when asked them to do so. you report unacceptable • Call Crimestoppers free on 0800 555111 – you can do this behaviour? anonymously if you wish. We will take appropriate action E-mail to prevent such behaviour in our [email protected] communities but we need you to report – your message will be passed to it first. the relevant officer. When you do, we will agree a proposed If you live in Hartlepool, you can course of support with you which, contact the Community Safety Office where appropriate: on 01429 405577 or visit the website, ✓ ensures your confidentiality; http://www.saferhartlepool.co.uk. ✓ provides guidance and support to For Leeds, email community.safety@ you about your options; leeds.gov.uk. ✓ encourages you to report the incident to the police; For Beverley and Selby, you can call ✓ ensures that partners like the police 01482 391012 or email are aware of the situation; [email protected]. ✓ works with other agencies to tackle For Scarborough, call 01723 232326. the problem; ✓ finds other witnesses so you are not For other areas “alone”; • Call Crimestoppers free on ✓ makes sure you are all right and 0800 555111 – you can do this updates you on our progress; anonymously and do not need to ✓ considers using “without notice” supply your name and address. injunctions against identifiable
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perpetrators where threats of Collecting evidence violence have been made; ✓ arranges alternative As well as approaching your neighbour accommodation, either temporarily you should start to collect evidence. or permanently, where there is a This will be useful if you want to take fear for your safety; further action yourself or if we are able ✓ improves your security by providing to take action later. You will need to extra measures such as additional record the type of problem, if anyone window locks, security chains, extra else witnessed it, the time and date it locks, security lights as appropriate, occurred, how long it lasted and how for your property; the incident has affected you. Ask your ✓ provides personal security items Neighbourhood Services Officer to give such as personal alarms and a you a diary sheet (see example at end mobile phone; of leaflet). If you think other neighbours ✓ offers an “out of hours” emergency are being affected by the problem, you contact list; could approach them and see if they ✓ remove any racist or offensive graffiti are willing to fill in diary sheets. promptly (within 24 hours); ✓ pays special attention to monitoring Contacting other agencies the area you live in. We will always work in partnership with you to try to resolve a neighbour What you can do if you are problem. However, if trying to sort experiencing anti-social out the problem informally with your neighbours has not worked, you could behaviour try taking action yourself by involving Talking to your neighbour other agencies. Most problems can be settled by talking to your neighbour and explaining What we will do politely that their behaviour is causing We recognise that some problems you a problem. When you approach between neighbours can be distressing. your neighbour it is important to We do expect you to approach your stay calm and not get involved in an neighbour first before coming to us. If argument. you have tried this or if the problem is serious and you do not want to contact
PAGE 5 ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR, HARASSMENT AND HATE CRIME LEAFLET 16 your neighbour directly, then you Our legal powers should contact us. We will always work in partnership with you to try to resolve We have three legal options. We can: a neighbour problem. • apply for an injunction against your We will discuss possible options with neighbour to stop them causing a you including: nuisance; • apply for a possession order • mediation; (eviction) or demoted tenancy order • we could write to or interview your against your neighbour; neighbour; • work with the local authority and • collecting further evidence; the police to take action under the • completing diary sheets or us Crime and Disorder Act 1998. This interviewing other neighbours could include getting an Anti-Social affected by the problem; Behaviour Order. • you taking legal action. If we apply to the court for an We will not take any action without injunction or a possession order or if your agreement and will keep full action is taken under the Crime and written records about the case. Rarely Disorder Act, then we have to prove there may be a threat of violence, two things: abuse or other retribution against someone who has complained. If you • that nuisance is taking place; and or we feel that this is a real possibility, • that it is serious enough for an we will do all we can to ensure your injunction, a possession order or an anonymity is maintained and your Anti-social Behaviour Order to be security protected. granted.
If we do not think we can help by taking We need a lot of supporting evidence any action, we will explain this to you. and witnesses prepared to appear in If you are not happy with this decision, court. This may mean that you and/or you can complain, using our complaints other neighbours will need to appear reporting form. as witnesses. However, it is possible to rely on evidence from ‘professional witnesses‘, members of our staff or staff from other agencies.
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What you can do if you Within 5 working days we will: are suffering from racial • do what we can to find out who has harassment been harassing you; • if it is an employee, contractor • Write down what happened with or agent of ours, we will take the times, dates and descriptions of appropriate disciplinary action those responsible and contact your against them; Neighbourhood Services Officer or • if you agree, report the incident any other JRHT employee. Ask your to: The Police and the York Racial Neighbourhood Services Officer to Equality Network, The Gatehouse, give you diary sheets to use. 49 Cemetery Road, York, YO10 5AJ • Report it to the police or ask your (Tel: 01904 642600). Neighbourhood Services Officer to report it for you. Within 10 working days we will: • Contact one of the organisations listed at the end of this leaflet for • begin the legal process to repossess advice and support. the property of JHRT residents who • Contact the Citizens Advice Bureau, do not stop their harassment; a solicitor or law centre. • discuss and agree an action plan with you; • carry out the agreed action plan; What we will do • put you in touch with other local When you report a racial harassment advice and support groups and help incident to us, within 24 hours we will: you take legal action if you want to; • find you a new home if it is not safe • aim to visit you at your home or see for you to stay in your own home. you in our offices; • talk with you about what happened With your agreement, when you report and record the details; an incident of racial harassment, we will: • do any emergency repairs to your • record details of the incident; home, if it has been damaged in an • pass this form to our incident; Neighbourhood Services Officer • remove any abusive graffiti; who deals with incidents of racial • if necessary add extra security to harassment. They will arrange to your home. meet with you to complete a racial harassment reporting form, which
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will be used to refer your case What we will do to York Racial Equality Network who can provide further support When you report a harassment incident and advice about future options to us we will: for dealing with this issue e.g. criminal and civil actions against the • aim to visit you at your home or see person(s) who have harassed you; you in our offices no later than one • take appropriate action under the working day after you contacted us. tenancy agreement against the If you would prefer to see someone perpetrators; of the same sex as yourself, please • continue to support you in dealing let us know; with this incident. • talk to you about what happened and record the details; • if you agree, report the incident to What you can do if you are the police; suffering from other forms of • do any emergency repairs to your home within 24 hours, if it has been harassment damaged in an incident; • report it to your Neighbourhood • remove any abusive graffiti within Services Officer or any other JRHT 24 hours; employee; • add extra security to your home, • report it to the police or ask your such as extra door or window locks, Neighbourhood Services Officer to if necessary within 24 hours; report it for you; • discuss and agree an action plan • contact one of the organisations with you; listed at the end of this leaflet for • carry out the agreed action plan, advice and support; usually in two weeks; • contact the Citizens Advice Bureau, • do what we can to find out who has solicitor or law centre. been harassing you. If it is a JRHT resident and they do not stop their You should write down what happened harassment, we will take action with times, dates and descriptions of those against their tenancy. If it is an responsible. If possible, provide names employee, contractor or agent of and addresses. There is a diary sheet at ours, we will take disciplinary action the back of this leaflet. Please ask your against them; Neighbourhood Services Officer if you • find you a new home if it is not safe need more diary sheets. for you to stay in your own home.
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Other ways to get help CCTV (New Earswick only) is also operated by IT4Vision. Neighbourhood Watch schemes You can report incidents occurring in For up-to-date details of the above areas directly to IT4Vision by Neighbourhood Watch schemes, ringing 24 please contact us at The Garth office Freephone 0808 1000101 hours a day, 7 days a week. on freephone 0800 5870211 or email [email protected]
Joint Action Group (Huntington/ New Earswick Ward Team) (JAG) The ‘JAG’ aims to create a cleaner, greener neighbourhood, deal with anti-social behaviour, and tackle crime and the causes and fear of crime. This core group is attended by a Police Sergeant and Police Officer plus Ward Councillors and Parish Council representatives. Other groups are invited where relevant to any items raised (school head teachers, JRHT etc.). The group meets every six weeks.
IT4Vision Security This company offers a community ranger patrol service.
Patrols operate in:
• Woodlands, York; • New Earswick, York; • James Backhouse Place, York; • Holgate Park, York.
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Where to go for further advice and support
Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust North Yorkshire Police White Rose Avenue Police Headquarters New Earswick Newby Wiske Hall York Newby Wiske YO32 4TZ Northallerton Tel: Freephone 0800 5870211 North Yorkshire DL7 9HA Email: [email protected] Tel: 08450 6060247
East Riding Of Yorkshire Council Scarborough Borough Council County Hall Town Hall Beverley St Nicholas Street East Riding Of Yorkshire Scarborough HU17 9BA YO11 2HG Tel: 01482 8877000 Tel: 01723 232323
City of York Council Ryedale District Council West Offices Environmental Health Station Rise & Housing Services York Ryedale House YO1 6GA Old Malton Road Tel: 01904 551550 Malton YO17 0HH Tel: 01635 600666
York Mediation Service Hartlepool Borough Council 20 George Hudson Street Customer Services York Contact Centre YO1 6ZE Civic Centre Tel: 01904 553838 Victoria Road Fax: 01904 553839 Hartlepool TS24 8AY Tel: 01429 266522
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Cleveland Police York Racial Equality Network Cleveland Police Headquarters 24 Falsgrave Crescent PO Box 70 York Ladgate Lane YO30 7AZ Middlesborough TS8 9EH Tel: 01904 642600 Tel: 01642 326326
York Building Bridges Forum Citizens Advice Bureau (York) West Offices West Offices Station Rise Station Rise, York York YO1 6GA YO1 6GA Tel: 01904 551550 Tel: 0344 411 1444 www.yorkcab.co.uk
York Travellers Trust Hartlepool CAB 20 Falsgrave Crescent 87 Park Road Clifton Hartlepool York TS26 9HP YO30 7AZ Tel: 01429 273223 Tel: 01904 630526 Fax: 01904 675444
Scarborough CAB 4 Elder’s Street Scarborough YO11 1DZ Tel: 01723 368710
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JRHT Neighbourhood Services For York and district, including New Freephone 0800 5870211 Earswick and Beverley Scarborough 01723 341006 Hartfields 01429 855070
JRHT Estate Caretakers 07739 634164 Woodlands 07739 634165 Victoria/Geldof Road (part-time only)
York Pride Actionline 01904 551551
Support Organisations Victim support York and Selby 0845 071 0871 Witness Service York Crown Court 01904 655497 Witness Service Magistrates Court 01904 818349
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Diary sheet Name of witness: Address of witness:
Name of resident against whom report is being made: Address of resident:
Date Time Time Nuisance Effect of the Action taken started finished reported (i.e. incident on by you noise, smell, you source etc.)
1/12/99 00.35 02.47 Television from Unable to Phoned Number 12 – sleep neighbour loud and blaring – could hear in my living room
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Date Time Time Nuisance Effect of the Action taken started finished reported (i.e. incident on by you noise, smell, you source etc.)
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Signed:
Date:
Please return completed form to:
Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust The Garth White Rose Avenue New Earswick YORK YO32 4TZ See back page for full contact details
Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust Plaxton Court Woodlands Drive Scarborough North Yorkshire YO12 6QT Tel: 01723 341005
Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust Hartfields Off Merlin Way Bishop Cuthbert Hartlepool TS26 0US Tel: 01429 855070
PAGE 15 Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust Head Office The Garth White Rose Avenue New Earswick Yo rk Y032 4TZ Reception open Mon to Fri from 8.30 am to 5pm (Wed 10am to 5pm) Tel: 0800 587 0211 (this line is diverted to the emergency call line outside the above hours)
Other offices where you can make enquiries or pay your rent/charges:- Plaxton Court Woodlands Drive Scarborough Y012 6QT Reception open Mon - Fri from 9am to 5pm. Weekends 10am to 2pm Tel: 01723 340290 (this line is diverted to the emergency call line outside the above hours)
Hartfields Retirement village Merlin Way, Bishop Cuthbert Middle Warren Hartlepool TS26 0US
Reception open Mon - Fri from 8.15am to 12am and 6pm to midnight Weekends 10am to 2pm and 6pm to midnight Tel: 01429 855070 (during reception hours) Tel: 07980 705713 (out of hours emergency line)
Email: [email protected] Visit our website: www.jrht.org.uk
JRHT is a registered housing association, managing around 2,500 homes, and is a registered provider of care services.
If you would like this information in an alternative format (such as large print, Braille or audio) please contact our Communications department at JRF, email [email protected] or telephone 01904 615979
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