The yobs who commit one offence every second

By JAMES SLACK FOR THE DAILY MAIL
Updated:

An incident of yobbish behaviour took place every second last year.

Police recorded 3.9million acts of anti-social behaviour - such as criminal damage and graffiti - in England and Wales.

But Government researchers say only 11 per cent of such offences are actually reported to officers - pushing the true total to 35million.

Yobs in hoodies

The Tories say the Government's anti-yob measures are not working

That is the equivalent of 95,890 people being intimidated by a yob every day, or one every second.

The Tories, who uncovered the figures, said they showed Home Secretary Jacqui Smith's many anti-yob initiatives were not working.

Ministers have used anti-social behaviour contracts and poured millions of pounds into the so-called Respect agenda, which was later abolished by Gordon Brown.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said: 'We've seen initiative after initiative - but nothing they try has made any real difference. People want to see something done to tackle a problem that is disrupting huge numbers of lives.'

The largest number of anti-social behaviour incidents recorded by the police last year was 388,000, in London.

There were also 253,000 in Greater Manchester, 172,000 in the West Midlands and 171,000 incidents in both Lancashire and Northumbria.

The Respect agenda was scrapped shortly after Mr Brown became Prime Minister and Louise Casey, the Respect commissioner, was moved to another job in the Cabinet Office.

But, in recognition of the public's continued alarm at the high level of anti-social behaviour, the combative Miss Casey has since been returned to the fray.

She is currently back inside the Home Office, working on an array of new anti-yob strategies.

The figures emerged as Home Secretary Jacqui Smith prepared to host the Government's first 'burglary summit'.

The summit will include DIY stores, Age Concern, Neighbourhood Watch, and police, following a four per cent leap in burglaries in recent months.

The surge in housebreaking has been linked to the recession. Miss Smith is expected to say it will be backed by a new Home Office fund to 'help people in hard times' by funding extra locks and alarms.

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