Housing staff told they must prepare one case a year

COUNCIL staff have been set quotas for the number of Asbos they are expected to win, it emerged this week.
The revelation that 50 housing managers have each been ordered to help bring at least one Asbo case a year came as Camden and police pressed ahead with plans to Asbo a 12-year-old boy.
Pressure is now mounting on the Labour-run council, which has secured more than 150 Asbos, to review its policies.
More than 200 protesters packed into Friends Meeting House in Euston Road on Thursday night to launch pressure group Asbo Concern.
And as the Camden Labour party began its election campaign at Old Hampstead Town Hall on Tuesday, guest speaker Dame Helena Kennedy QC, who lives in Hampstead, spoke out against youth Asbos.
She said: “They are being used inappropriately. They started out as an honourable intention but have had a dishonourable outcome. They were meant to be used as a last resort but all too often they are being used as a first resort.”
Earlier that day police revealed they have been preparing a case against a schoolboy from West Hampstead since he was 11.
Details of alleged offences will be revealed when the case is heard at Highbury Magistrates Court next Thursday.
Sergeant Deirdre Matthews said: “I don’t sign them lightly, especially when an 11-year-old boy is concerned.”
Speaking at Thursday’s meeting, Asbo Concern organiser Matt Foot said: “It is draconian legislation and gives police a licence to harass people.”
Shari Shakerbati, director of Liberty, added: “The Asbo Concern campaign is important and timely. Asbos show a descent from democracy to mob rule.”
Maddy Cooper, a Camden Council estate officer, said she was proud to have rejected appeals from managers to help in securing Asbos.
She said: “We have been asked to help with at least one Asbo a year. The staff don’t want to do it and they are not doing it.”
She added: “If Asbos had been around not that long ago then Joe Cole might have been banned for kicking a ball against a wall on an estate, not playing for England.
“We need to inspire other children that they can go out do things like that. How many kids with wonderful talents will end up in prison because of the government?”
Labour Councillor Theo Blackwell – former deputy leader at the Town Hall – refused calls to speak at Thursday’s meeting. But he said: “I turned up expecting an informed debate on the pros and cons of Asbos – what I got seemed like a Respect Party rally.”
PC Dylan Belt, also representing the authorities at the meeting, said: “I felt disappointed that the whole event appeared to be very much offender-focussed.”
A council press officer confirmed targets are set for Town Hall staff, adding: “Estate officers manage around 600 properties and the targets are set in relation to the amount of complaints district housing Offices get of anti-social behaviour from residents, so we believe this is reasonable.”