Anti-social behaviour covers many types of actions, from low-level persistent nuisance to serious public disturbance.

• It is behaviour that can cause nuisance and annoyance
• It is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress
• It creates significant and persistent problems in neighbourhoods
• It leaves communities feeling intimidated and afraid.

Anti-social behaviour is defined as "acting in a manner that caused or is likely to cause alarm, distress or harassment to one or more persons not of the same household".

Examples of anti-social behaviour could include -

• Noise nuisance
• Criminal damage, vandalism, graffiti
• Intimidation/harassment
• Litter/rubbish, fouling of public areas, fly tipping
• Drug or alcohol misuse and drug dealing
• Nuisance motorcycles
• Misuse of fireworks

This is by no means an exhaustive list. The key issue is the impact that these actions have on victims, witnesses and the community we live in.

What is not anti-social behaviour?

Q. What if young people are hanging out on the street but not really doing anything?
A. Ask yourself, are they really doing anything wrong? If the answer is no, leave them be. Children should be allowed to play, within reason.

Q. What if kids are playing football in the street or riding around on their bikes and I find it annoying?
A. It is not against the law to play in the street. Often issues can be resolved by talking to your neighbours.

Q. My neighbour has a BBQ in the garden to celebrate his birthday every year. I find the noise and the smoke from the BBQ very annoying. Is it classed as anti-social behaviour?
A. It would only be an example of anti-social behaviour if the behaviour were persistent rather than a 'one-off' every year.

What should I do if there is a problem?

Before you report an anti-social problem, you must first decide whether there is anything you can do to sort out the problem yourself.

If the problem is not too serious, talking to the person involved and making them aware that they are causing a nuisance can sometimes be enough to stop the problem. It is possible that the person simply doesn't realise that what they are doing is disturbing you. When made aware that they are causing a problem, they may be willing to change their behaviour so that the problem stops.

Here are some useful tips to bear in mind when talking to the person causing the problem -

• Try to stay calm and friendly - being aggressive is not going to help
• Explain what the problem is, how you feel and how it affects you
• Listen to the other person and try not to interrupt them when they are talking. Better results can be achieved if people listen as well as talk
• Try not to shout, even if the other person does. Try to stay in control and not be abusive
• Having listened to each other's views, try to reach an agreement
• If the person is being unreasonable - leave the discussion.

If the problem continues once you have tried speaking to the person responsible or if the problem is so serious that you don't want to confront them, you should report it to the appropriate agency for further help.

How do I report it?

Anti-social behaviour problems that are serious, or cannot be resolved by you talking to the person(s) responsible, can be reported to your local housing provider, local council or the States of Jersey Police.

Anti-social behaviour covers a wide range of problems, so the agency that you need to report it to depends on the nature of the problem and the people involved.

If you are unsure of who to contact either call the Parish, the relevant States department or alternatively the police.