Anti-social behaviour reports are falling, so why does it feel like such a problem?

Another reason police figures may show a decrease in ASB is due to the way crimes are reported.

According to the Home Office, in 2021 His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services found many police forces around the country were incorrectly logging crimes, such as public order offences, stalking or harassment, as ASB.

Since then, it says forces have introduced further training and audits to ensure accurate crime recording where a notifiable offence is identified.

Northumbria Police says ASB in its patch has fallen along with public order offences, which mean the changes made to its reporting had not caused statistics to show increases in other crimes.

The region’s police forces say much of the reason for the drop is because they are actively working to tackle ASB in communities.

“We completely understand the negative and significant impact that ASB can have on the lives of the community and always aim to tackle such issues head-on using a range of tactics,” a Northumbria Police spokesperson said.

They said the force carries out a “mixture of activity” year-round, as well as working with other organisations such as Project Guardian, the Safer Streets Initiative and Trojan Bus projects.

It also runs the Safer Transport Northumbria initiative, allowing commuters to raise issues while using public transport, and operates a dedicated unit across the Tyne and Wear Metro network.

“This has helped us to achieve this drop in reports of ASB, and our focus remains on improving this even further,” they said.

Durham Police say crime is down across its force area and it recently introduced 26 extra officers into its neighbourhood teams to tackle crime and ASB, and officers carried out an additional 14,000 hours of “high-visibility patrols” last year.