Anti-social behaviour is behaviour that causes harassment, alarm or distress to one or more people, not of the same household. This can include (but is not limited to) graffiti, litter, vandalism, abandoned cars, noise nuisance, harassment and intimidation. 

Police responsibility

South Yorkshire Police are responsible for incidents relating to:

• begging
• dealing/taking of drugs and drinking alcohol in the street
• gangs and youths drinking in parks
• harassment or intimidation
• hoax call to emergency services
• hate crime related graffiti motivated by prejudice or intolerance toward an individual's nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation or disability. 
• fly-tipping in progress
  
• misuse of fireworks
• intimidating dogs
• prostitution and indecent behaviour
• vandalism
• lighting fires
• suspicious vehicles
• threatening/violent neighbour disputes
• hoax calls to emergency services

Council's responsibility

We are responsible for incidents involving:

• abandoned vehicles
• dead animals
• dog fouling
• fly posting
• dumped, fly-tipped waste
• inoffensive graffiti
• non-hate crime graffiti
• littering
• lost or stray dogs
• noise nuisance or DIY related noise
• syringes or needles
• dumped, fly-tipped waste (nobody present)
• lost, stray or barking dogs
• littering

Tackling anti-social behaviour

We work with the Police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Courts to deal with anti-social behaviour and nuisance cases quickly and effectively, and to provide a high level of support to victims and witnesses.

If we can resolve a situation without legal action, we will (through interventions and diversionary work). However, in some situations, legal enforcement may be necessary and we will not hesitate to take action.

We can tackle anti-social behaviour through:

• Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABC). These are agreements made between an individual, police and local authority to make the individual's anti-social behaviour stop
• injunctions, possession proceedings and Notice Seeking Possession (NSP). These are legal options we can take to put a stop to anti-social behaviour caused by our tenants or their household members
• low level interventions. We can give advice or warnings to people who are causing nuisance or anti-social behaviour
• closure power. We can apply to Court to close a property for a period of time, in serious circumstances

Our approach and procedure for dealing with reports of anti-social behaviour is outlined in these documents.

Community Trigger for anti-social behaviour in Sheffield

If you have reported anti-social behaviour and you are concerned that not enough is being done, you can raise a ‘Community Trigger’.

The Community Trigger gives you, or someone acting on your behalf, the right to request a review of your case by ourselves, the Police and any other relevant organisations. The review will focus on working together to find a solution.

To use the Community Trigger, one of the following thresholds must apply:

• you have reported 3 separate incidents relating to the same or similar issue of anti-social behaviour within the last 6 months
• 5 different households have separately reported the same anti-social behaviour issue within the last 6 months

If you request a Community Trigger and you meet one of the above thresholds, we will ensure that our relevant teams carry out a thorough review of your case, alongside the Police and other organisations which have been involved.

Depending on who you have reported the issue to and who has been involved, this might include:

• our Council Housing Service
• our Environmental Protection Service
• your landlord if you are a housing tenant

We will then let you know our findings and tell you what will happen next.