Safer streets are possible. Accountability is essential.
How much anti-social behaviour should someone have to endure before they have even reached work? Why should those suffering from anti-social behaviour be the ones who have to move house and change their behaviour?
These questions captured something important about this year’s Battle of Ideas Festival. Behind arguments about crime figures and public perceptions are people trying to earn a living, raise a family and enjoy their neighbourhood, whose everyday lives are diminished by persistent disorder.
FixASB's founder took part in two discussions: “Middlesbrough: what just happened?”, chaired by Jon Bryan, and “Anti-social Britain: why do we feel unsafe?”, chaired by Simon McKeon. Across both, questions of responsibility, consequences and accountability kept returning.
Former Middlesbrough mayor Andy Preston emphasised the importance of consequences. Continually finding reasons to excuse anti-social behaviour risks displacing the more urgent task of confronting it. Understanding why someone behaves badly should help us respond effectively; it should never mean abandoning those affected.
Dr Joanna Williams explored the changing nature of community and the importance of good work. Tackling disorder also means thinking seriously about the relationships, expectations and opportunities that help people build purposeful lives and feel part of something beyond themselves.
Laila Cunningham highlighted drugs, alcohol and addiction as drivers of much anti-social behaviour. These issues require attention if we want to interrupt persistent patterns of harm.
Lord Shaun Bailey stressed the importance of family and role models, failures by the state, and society’s own responsibility to demand better. Politicians, police and other agencies should face sustained public expectations that crime and disorder will be tackled.
Dr Stuart Waiton raised concerns about labelling children and young people, increasingly through medicalisation, in ways that can deny them agency or responsibility for their actions. His contribution challenged us to consider what happens when explanations obscure the expectation that behaviour can change.
FixASB's founder argued that the state and wider society must show that it has people’s backs and begin rebuilding that confidence through action on anti-social behaviour.
Questions from the audience underlined the stakes. Some described substantial and serious anti-social behaviour. One contribution highlighted the unfairness of hardworking people facing repeated disorder before their working day had even begun.
Accountability and institutional capture were strong themes across the festival - including the sessions chaired by Baroness Fox (opens external site) and Jacob Reynolds (opens external site). For FixASB, the practical question is clear: who is responsible for responding, what have they done, and has life improved for those affected? Whether the relevant agency is a council, police force or another organisation, responsibility must lead to an answer.
There is every reason to be optimistic. Deterioration in quality of life is reversible. With the right infrastructure, reliable feedback loops and political will, persistent problems can be identified, responses scrutinised and improvements sustained. A virtuous cycle showing that reporting leads to effective action can then be established.
That is the ambition behind FixASB: helping communities make persistent problems visible, helping build the evidence for effective action.
People’s willingness to speak, challenge and demand better is itself a source of hope. Safer streets are achievable. We should expect them - and organise ourselves to help make them a reality.
