THAMES Valley Police has teamed with Milton Keynes College for its latest campaign aimed at tackling antisocial behaviour (ASB).
The campaign seeks to empower witnesses to and victims of antisocial behaviour and encourage them to speak out and report incidents.
It comes after a visit to graphic design students at Milton Keynes College last year by Thames Valley Police to talk to them about ASB and the effect it can have on communities.
They were then given the opportunity to design adverts to support the campaign and encourage reporting of any instances of antisocial behaviour that they see.
The winning design was submitted by Chiamaka Aheneku.
Antisocial behaviour is defined as behaviour by a person which causes, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm, or distress to persons not of the same household as the person.
A national report into antisocial behaviour published by Resolve UK last year found that there were likely more than five million incidents of ASB nationwide in 2023.
Figures show that one in seven have considered moving home as a result of ASB, and one in four left feeling unsafe in their area.
YouGov data also continually shows that more than half of victims or witnesses to all types of ASB do not report them.
In the last three years, only 26 per cent of victims and witnesses reported an ASB incident to the police.
Thames Valley Police explained that this can be for several reasons, particularly with residents thinking their issue was not serious enough to report.
Head of Thames Valley Police’s Community Policing Command, Superintendent John Batty, said: “Antisocial behaviour can take many forms, from noise nuisance and graffiti to neighbour disputes and drug dealing. It can be a real blight on people’s lives.
“ASB is not a crime in itself but a description for a number of behaviours, many of which can be criminal offences.
“The police are not always the agency with the right powers to tackle every ASB issue, for instance local authorities have the powers to deal with noise nuisance.
“However, it is important that agencies work in partnership, to identify and tackle the root causes of ASB.
“In order to do that effectively, we need people who are affected by ASB to report it to us.”
Deputy Head of School for Arts and Media at Milton Keynes College, Kyle Kirkpatrick, said: “It’s fantastic that our students have been able to support the new campaign against antisocial behaviour from Thames Valley Police.
“They all loved working on a project that can make a real difference in local communities and the designs that they came up with were fantastic.
“We’re particularly proud of Chiamaka for producing the winning design, and we’re hopeful that her design can help to make the campaign a success”.
“If you experience or witness ASB, report it to Thames Valley Police, via our website.”
