Crackdown on ASB in Southend's tower blocks
An operation to combat anti-social behaviour (ASB) in the tower blocks in the Queensway area of Southend has resulted in people being issued criminal protections notices, evicted and jailed.
The joint initiative by Southend Community Policing Team, South Essex Homes, South Essex Property Services (SEPS), and Southend City Council’s community safety team was launched in February to stop street drinkers, drug users and the homeless from gaining access to Chiltern, Malvern, Pennine and Quantock blocks.
Communal areas were littered with drug and alcohol paraphernalia, there was graffiti, and urine and faeces in the stairwells.
People were hanging around the entrance doors trying to intimidate residents into letting them in, door buzzers were ringing at all times of the day of night, and there were reports of drug dealing and prostitutes bringing clients to the buildings.
The operation is led by PC Tony Thomas who said he’s taken a “zero tolerance” approach.
“This is a multi-agency approach that started off with regular patrols by all the partners involved to eject the people who shouldn’t be in there. Anyone we identified who’d been there on two occasions or more would be eligible for a Community Protection Warning (CPW).
“If they’ve breached them, we’ve issued a Community Protection Notice (CPN), and if you breach a CPN, you can be arrested.
“Initially, I was being sent 10-15 images (of unwanted visitors) a day from the SEPS team. That had reduced to two a week by the end of the summer.”
The team have also executed warrants for drug dealing, one of which led to Mark Disney receiving four years in prison. South Essex Homes also served an eviction notice to a resident at another problem address.
In total, 18 CPWs and three CPNs have been issued. Approximately 20 individuals are due to receive a CPW and more than 40 people who will get a CPW if they are found in the blocks on one more occasion.
There has been one arrest for a breach of CPN, and officers have applied for a Criminal Behaviour Order against the individual.
PC Thomas said that although the operation had been a success so far it would continue to evolve.
“We began to get reports of issues in other areas so we extended the operation to include Barringtons, Nicholson House and Nursery Place, and we’re looking to set an operation up of similar scale in Hamlet Court Road.
“I’m a zero-tolerance person, and everyone who lives in these areas is entitled to a quality of life. If they’re not getting that, it’s up to us to sort it out. We’re making these areas as anti-social as possible for those who want to commit ASB.”
Anita McGinley, the Housing Community Safety Manager at South Essex Homes, said alongside working closely with the police to cut ASB in the blocks, her organisation is offering support to those dealing with homelessness:
“South Essex Homes have been working in partnership with Essex Police and Southend Community Safety to tackle issues on non-residents abusing the communal areas of the buildings, including rough sleeping and substance misuse, at Queensway.
“The area has also been included in rough sleeper outreach, in order to ensure that those genuinely rough sleeping are provided with advice and assistance to engage with support services.
“Throughout the operation we have shared information and intelligence received from residents and our security patrol from South Essex Property Services, to ensure that support is offered to individuals but also that enforcement action is being taken against repeat offenders.
“Since the operation started, we have seen a reduction in reports of associated ASB, and we will persist with this partnership approach whilst there continues to be a need for it in the area. We would encourage anyone who witnesses rough sleeping to report this to streetlink.co.uk.”