Rowdy behaviour tops Sussex police complaints (From The Argus)

Rowdy behaviour tops Sussex police complaints

11:00am Friday 3rd July 2009

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Rowdy behaviour is the biggest cause for complaint among people in Sussex, according to new Government figures.

A Home Office file has revealed Sussex Police recorded 57,243 incidents of reported "rowdy or inconsiderate behaviour" across the county in 2007/8.

The number represents the total number of reports received - not all of them would have led to further action such as cautions and prosecutions.

The next largest group of public order incidents reported in Sussex was hoax calls to emergency services (12,478).

Figures for police forces across England and Wales revealed Sussex experienced the highest number of hoaxes in the country behind the West Midlands, which recorded more than 17,000 fake calls.

Other major categories of reports included nuisance neighbours (5,669), malicious communications (5,417), abandoned vehicles that were not stolen or causing an obstruction (5,415) and street drinking (2,242).

Significant numbers of reports were also received in relation to incidents of so-called "animal problems" (2,067), and noise (1,023).

At the other end of the scale, just 182 complaints were made about begging or vagrancy in Sussex in 2007/8, while 183 reports of substance misuse were recorded.

Other categories included the inappropriate use, sale or possession of fireworks, with 429 incidents reported, alongside 255 of trespass and 235 of "hate"-related incidents.

The information came from the National Incident Category List, on which police are expected to record every incident, whether from victims, witnesses or third parties, and whether crime-related or not.

Most reports are received via telephone calls from the public or visits to police front offices.

Home Secretary Alan Johnson, who provided the information in a Parliamentary written answer, cautioned that the data were normally used for management information only and were not subject to the detailed checks that applied for National Statistics publications and may be subject to change.

Mr Johnson added that, following a review of the burdens placed on police forces by the Home Office, the National Incident Category List had been simplified for 2009, with a 33% "reduction in complexity", which he said meant a "significant decrease in the data demand placed on forces".

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