Foot patrols have been increased in the Westminster Street area of Crewe, England, now that police are aggressively looking for people on the street who engage in anti-social behavior.

Undercover police officers have been patrolling parks and other public areas, looking for teens that might be seeking to engage in vandalism and other bothersome behavior. The police have suggested that they will be looking to maintain those patrols for the next few coming months. And they want the community to help snitch.

They've asked people in the community to be the eyes and ears of big brother, reporting anything that they might witness, rather than seeking to post that content to social media. According to law enforcement, incidents of anti-social behavior have been on the rise in this area specifically, where some teens have caused property damage to play areas, and more.

What Do They Consider To Be Anti-Social Behavior?

They qualify anti-social behavior as being any intimidating, aggressive, or destructive activity, that results in damage or destruction of another person's quality of life. If you see someone doing something that you think infringes your right to enjoy your home, or the community you live in etc, then they encourage people to report that to the police. But it still seems rather vague and might result in several people being unjustly harassed even though they haven't initiated any violence against anyone else.

Do The Actions Reduce Feelings of Safety?

Reports can be made over people making excessive noise, for uttering threats or verbal abuse, for engaging in intimidating behavior, or for graffiti or property damage.

However, if the only measurement for criminality is the feelings of the person who is reporting the incident, there might be opportunity for abuse. This doesn't mean that there still might not be a problem that should be addressed however, but are they going about it in the right way?

Many residents are reportedly happy with the police that they've stepped up patrols now in the area, and previous reports suggest that the anti-social behavior problem had been ignored. But there is still room for potential wrongdoing. What is considered to be anti-social behavior might be too broad, including a wide variety of incidents which might not include criminal offenses.

As it is right now, people might be called on for drinking in public, making peaceful drug purchases, littering, or a myriad of other activities. The people have been told that they should report on actions in their community that causes any harassment, distress, or alarm, but that could prompt people to waste valuable resources with incidents that don't warrant a violent response from the state.

Pics:
pixabay