By Steven Bell

A Scottish Executive minister urged victims of anti-social behaviour not to “suffer in silence” during a fact-finding visit to Dundee yesterday.

Deputy justice minister Hugh Henry attended a so-called ASBO roadshow in the city centre and was told of local efforts to tackle yobs and nuisance neighbours.

He heard first-hand how a city senior citizen became so distressed by late-night disturbances that she decided to fight back—and won.

The woman took action, with the help of council anti-social behaviour specialists, using powers in the Antisocial Behaviour Act.

“I told the minister about the unsociable upstairs neighbour, who caused misery since he came to the place,” said the woman, who asked not to be named. “There were doors banging, loud music and youngsters up and down the stairs at all hours of the night. It was dreadful, and I was feeling ill with it, a bag of nerves.

“I went to the anti-social behaviour office at the council and the girls there were so kind. I got loads of help from them and now everything is different. It’s so quiet, the peace is lovely.

“I hope this makes people realise they don’t have to put up with noise and anti-social behaviour. I would advise anybody who has this problem to go to the office in Shore Terrace.”

After meeting the senior citizen at the council offices, Mr Henry said her story was evidence that the measures were having an impact.

The minister said the purpose of his visit was to let people in Dundee know what the Antisocial Behaviour Act meant for them.

“There are still some decent people who are suffering, and I want them to know they can and should ask for help and support. Don’t tolerate it, don’t suffer in silence.”

The minister noted the findings of a new survey, reported in yesterday’s Courier, which showed nearly 60% of Dundee residents were concerned about gangs and 52% were worried about vandalism.

“I know people are worried, and they are right to be worried,” he said.

“But I am also finding, from talking to people in Dundee, that the police have been very effective in apprehending people, while the wardens have been warmly welcomed and there is the anti- social behaviour unit.

“So we are seeing progress. I have been told that recorded levels of youth crime have come down.”

Dundee City Council administration leader Councillor Jill Shimi said, “The vast majority of people in Dundee are decent, law-abiding people but, like every other area in the country, there is an anti-social element whose behaviour can cause misery to people who want to go about their everyday lives in peace…

“The city council has proved that it is determined to do everything it can and use the powers available to local authorities to deal with behaviour that disrupts our communities.”

During a day-long tour of Dundee, Mr Henry saw the metal detector “wands” issued to police at Maryfield station.

He later took part in a well- attended question-and-answer session on crime and anti-social behaviour in the city chambers.

Among the topics discussed were pressures on the children’s hearings system, drink and drugs and youth-related disturbances.

Mr Henry said he believed that decent communities across the country were being brought down by a “handful of people.”

He told the audience that fear of crime was a difficult issue to address, but pointed to record numbers of police officers and improving clear-up rates.

The meeting also heard calls for children to be more valued, and Mr Henry said he was concerned about young people who were “almost born to fail.”

“There are stories I hear about children who can’t talk, who haven’t learned to eat, who at the age of four are becoming carers because there’s not an adult taking responsibility.

“There was the case in Glasgow of a child taking drugs into school because he wanted to get them away from his mother.”

He also told of reading about children in an Angus town behaving like dogs and becoming infected from ingesting faeces.

The minister said a number of initiatives were in place, from the Sure Start scheme to midnight football, to give opportunities to young people.

“Sometimes the parents need to get a grip,” he added.

l Nearly half of all fires tackled by Tayside Fire and Rescue are started deliberately—and curbing anti- social behaviour is key to reducing that trend, writes Stefan Morkis.

Nationally the picture is even worse, with nearly three-quarters of all fires attended by fire and rescue services in Scotland set on purpose.

In the year ending in April, Tayside Fire and Rescue attended a total of 4371 fires. Of these, 1968 were found to have been started deliberately.

Tayside Fire and Rescue community safety manager Ally Fullarton revealed the alarming figures yesterday.

“Anti-social behaviour has a wider impact than just malicious and deliberate fires; it also involves attacks on firefighters responding to such incidents and hoax calls, all of which have a major cost to the fire service and the wider community,” he said.

“By working closely with the anti-social behaviour teams, the police and community wardens, we have been able to make a real difference to some communities within Dundee.”

Mr Fullarton said that in one area of Dundee where a large number of deliberate fires had been detected, the multi-agency approach had helped reduce the incidence of fires by 40%.

He said Tayside Fire and Rescue worked with councils to curb anti-social behaviour, and anyone who endangered lives by starting fires would face stiff penalties.

“In the worst cases of malicious and deliberate fire-raising we are working with the police and councils to impose the highest sanctions.

“These include anti-social behaviour orders and in the worst cases, conviction through the courts system.”