29 July 2009
Residents of the Caerphilly county borough who have been victims or witnesses of anti-social behaviour are now able to benefit from a brand new service, which aims to provide support and guidance on dealing with anti-social behaviour and moving forward.
The service, which is provided by Victim Support and funded by the Safer Caerphilly Community Safety Partnership, is free and confidential and provides support to residents of the Caerphilly county borough who have witnessed or been victims of anti-social behaviour.
Cabinet member for the environment, Cllr Lyn Ackerman said, "Although here in the Caerphilly county borough we have a very effective "4 Strikes" process in place for dealing with anti-social behaviour, it does remain as one of the primary concerns for members of the community, and time and again is identified as a priority at PACT meetings.
By working with Victim Support, we are providing a dual approach to tackling anti social behaviour – we will continue to pro-actively tackle anti social behaviour as we have in the past, but now we are also able to provide an additional support service to our local residents who may have experienced anti-social behaviour and need some advice and guidance on how to move forward.
I am full of praise for initiatives such as this, and I sincerely thank volunteers such as those working with Victim Support to provide this service, for their valuable contribution to the community."
The Safer Caerphilly Community Safety Partnership has funded the training of 15 volunteers, who will work with Victim Support and provide the service to residents of the county borough.
Local Police Officers, CCBC staff including Community Safety Wardens and Tenancy Enforcement Officers and other community safety staff have also been trained to know how to provide support and guidance to victims of anti-social behaviour.
"Mary"* who lives within the Caerphilly county borough suffered anti-social behaviour at the hands of a neighbour over a three-year period. She said, "I began to experience anti-social behaviour when a lady and her family moved in next door to me. She was extremely verbally abusive, and created a lot of noise nuisance, a lot of which I think was alcohol related.
I contacted both Gwent Police and Caerphilly council's Anti-Social Behaviour Co-ordinator, who were both extremely supportive and helped me a great deal. Both were very proactive in working to resolve the problem, which eventually resulted in my next-door neighbour being evicted from her house and also given an ASBO.
However, I felt as though it wasn't right to contact these people, who are very busy, every time I needed to talk to someone about the situation. My husband was very ill during this time so I didn't like to burden him with the problems either – having someone at the other end of the phone, like Victim Support would have been ideal, so that I could have someone to talk to for support without having to trouble the police or the anti-social behaviour co-ordinator, Rhiann.
I think that it is an excellent idea that the Safer Caerphilly Community Safety Partnership is working with Victim Support, and I know that the service will be very well received by people who are suffering as a result of anti-social behaviour."
When an anti social behaviour referral is submitted against an individual, the victim or witness in each case will have the opportunity to work with Victim Support, who can provide professional, confidential support and guidance to those that require it.
For further information, please contact Victim Support on 0845 6 121 900.
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