Bolton North East Conservatives

Tougher action needed against anti-social behaviour in Bolton

Deborah Dunleavy the Prospective Conservative MP for Bolton North East, this week called for tougher police powers to tackle anti-social behaviour and crack down on yobs.

This comes as new answers to Parliamentary Questions show that across Greater Manchester Police Force, 252,656 incidents of anti-social behaviour were reported to the police last year. But because of the massive under-reporting of such low-level crime, the real number of actual incidents could be as high as 2,296,873 for last year.

Under new Conservative proposals, firm action would be taken against the yob behaviour that blights neighbourhoods, as well as taking steps to tackle the underlying causes.

Ø    The police would have stronger powers to remove troublemakers from Boltons streets - taking yobs to the police station rather than moving them on, while new curfew orders could ‘ground’ persistent troublemakers at night after school hours.

Ø    Licensing laws would be more robustly enforced, revoking the licences of any shops in Bolton which systematically peddle alcohol to under-age children.

Ø    Violent offenders would be prosecuted instead of being let off with a caution.

Ø    More police would patrol the streets, by cutting police paperwork and bureaucracy which pins them down to police HQ.

Ms Dunleavy said: “This Labour Government has been soft on crime, and soft on the causes of crime. We live in a country where no one seems to say ‘no’ any more and nothing happens when a young person steps out of line.   This has to change.

“With so many reported and unreported cases of anti-social behaviour, Bolton’s police need the power to ‘ground’ young persistent troublemakers – so we can prevent them from getting into worse trouble.    We need to get more police on the beat, prosecute serious offenders and tackle the underlying causes of crime such as drug addiction, educational failure and family breakdown.”