Polite Britain gets tough on anti-social behaviour

LONDON, June 12: Preacher Philip Howard used to yell ''be a winner not a sinner'' at passers-by through a megaphone in London's main shopping street.

But not everyone appreciated his high-volume evangelising.

Thanks to a court order, he faces up to five years in jail if he is caught with an amplification device in Oxford Street again.

''British society is going crazy,'' said Howard, 52, who has preached in Oxford Circus for almost a decade.

''It's the hierarchy that don't like you. But let's face it the hierarchy put Jesus to death.'' Prime Minister Tony Blair introduced court powers called Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) in 1999 as part of a range of measures designed to ban problem behaviour such as excessive noise, drunkenness, bad language and graffiti.

They have since become a cultural phenomenon. A rock band in Manchester is called ''ASBO'', it is a popular name for dogs and a status symbol for some youths, and newspapers revel in mocking the latest arcane applications of the measure.

A woman in Scotland was banned from answering the door in her underwear. One man was ''ASBO-ed'' for playing the song ''Do They Know It's Christmas'' too loudly, another for feeding pigeons on his property.

A SAFER PLACE

The government says ASBOs have made real progress in improving the quality of life and making the country safer, and last week Blair announced moves to withhold funding from councils that fail to tackle anti-social behaviour.

''ASBOs change the balance of power between bullies and those people whose lives have been destroyed,'' said Bill Pitt, an expert on the legislation and member of the government's Respect task force to tackle anti-social behaviour.

About 7,400 ASBOs were issued in England and Wales between April 1999 and September 2005. They can be issued to anyone aged 10 or above but more than half are given to adults.

Manchester City Council, which campaigned for the original legislation and has handed out the most ASBOs, says they play an important role in protecting communities.

''In Manchester we have a significant number of drug, drink and mental health issues,'' Manchester Council's Executive Member for Housing, Eddy Newman, told Reuters.

''People are living very close to each other, often in poverty and deprivation, and they deserve to live without a climate of anti-social behaviour around them.'' A 61-year-old woman from Brooklands in Manchester said her life was greatly improved when the ringleaders of a 40-strong gang that used to hang around near her house were given an ASBO barring them from her steet.

Jennifer Bielanowski said the youths smashed up cars, shouted racist abuse at a shopkeeper and drew graffiti, and one 18-year-old head-butted her in her garden after she had complained to the police about their behaviour.

''ASBOs are brilliant ... my life has improved 1,000 percent,'' she told Reuters.

''It has all stopped completely, I can relax in my garden and don't have any problems,'' she said, ''I can go to the shops, I don't have the verbal abuse, and they don't gather here''.

She said she believed the system was particularly effective because complainants did not have to identify themselves.

''With police statements, the lads who are in trouble know who complained about them. But with the council and ASBOs, people can give an anonymous statement.''

TARGET THE VULNERABLE

Critics say ASBOs too often are used against the vulnerable or homeless, and do not tackle the root causes of social problems. They say the legislation has overshadowed other ways of dealing with problem behaviour. ''The government has promoted the ASBO at the expense of everything else,'' said John Hedge, a member of the Thames Valley Partnership, which aims to find long-term solutions to crime and social exclusion through programmes such as mediation schemes.

A clearer definition of anti-social behaviour could also help to deal with the problem, Hedge said.

''This is an over-arching term for anybody people don't like, ranging from littering, to groups of young people, to serious crimes,'' he said.

Critics also say the original purpose of the order is being abused in some areas and the National Association of Probation Officers (NAPO) is pressing for a review of the system.

ASBOs have been used on people with Tourette's syndrome -- a disorder characterised by a tendency to utter obscenities in public places -- whose disruptive behaviour is not intentional.

''ASBOs are being used to deal with nuisance, which could be dealt with in other ways,'' said Harry Fletcher of NAPO.

An ASBO is a civil order, but violating it can be a criminal offence with a penalty of several years in jail or large fines.

About 40 percent of ASBOs are breached, the Home Office says.

''It's a super-warning, it's not a punishment, it's basically saying to people if you carry on behaving in this way, then you will be facing criminal sanctions,'' said Newman in Manchester.

However, for Siobhan Gilmore, a resident of Bardsey in Yorkshire in northern England, the measures are excessive.

''This has just gone too far,'' she told Reuters. ''I got a letter from the police saying that children playing (soccer) out in the streets was anti-social behaviour.''

Reuters