Anti-social behaviour across the city is down, councillors have been told. However, it is not youth behaviour that is a growing concern but that of men under 40 that are increasingly flagging up anti-social behaviour issues. 

Councillors were also told about the impact of Space, which brings a program of activities to young people across Staffordshire over the summer. Over the summer 788 sessions were held and the uptake increased from 56 per cent to 85 per cent.

Compared to last year youth anti-social behaviour is also down, in Stoke North the number of incidents reduced from 62 last year to 48 this year, the same change has also happened in the south of the city with 94 incidents of ASB to 69. Staffordshire Police also noticed a significant impact in Blurton and Meir.

It is not just youth ASB which is down, data for all ASB shows a reduction in Stoke South of 1000 incidents and in Stoke North there has been a reduction of 1540. However in both regions of the city the number is still above 3000 with 3457 in Stoke South and 3046 in Stoke North.

There has also been a change to ASB crime recording, now more than one incident is classed as harassment. Despite this change Chief Superintendent Colin Mattinson still said there have been "significant reductions in ASB".

Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, Ben Adams told councillors that the partnerships between Staffordshire Police, the local authority and other partners is having an impact. He said: "Across the city anti-social behaviour has been reducing for some years now which is very positive. 

"Unlike the public perception it's not just related to young people, anti-social behaviour, the growth is actually males 25 to 40. It is very often around neighbourhood disputes, I think that seems to have been exacerbated by covid, which is disappointing really because these are people who are certainly at a stage of life where they ought to know better but for me the key thing is the partnership is functioning well."

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