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Two jobs for the price of one, but what does it say?

May 18 2009
Homeless people in Camden won‘t get ASBOs just for being homeless, but... Camden Council has appointed Tom Preest, formerly head of the borough's street population services with a £1.3m budget, as 'Head of Antisocial Behaviour and Street Population Services', amalgamating the two jobs.

Mr Preest stressed that joining the two services was a strategic move with no operational impact. His job will still be to reduce "street based activities" - rough sleeping, drinking and drug taking, begging and prostitution. But despite the job title, and what it suggests about the council's view of the homeless, The Pavement was assured that antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) will not be used against homeless people per se. That said, if people refuse service options or accept them in a way that does not reduce their street-based activities, enforcement will be considered.

Camden has issued around 22 ASBOs so far this year, around half of them for street-based activities. Mr Preest couldn't tell The Pavement what percentage had been breached, though the national rate is around 60 per cent. Camden's January 2007 review of the impact of ASBOs raised questions over whether the orders were having a disproportionate impact on ethnic minorities and vulnerable adults, and said there was a "clear need" for a major study on their effectiveness. Mr Preest was unaware of any such research having been carried out.

Home Office guidance for the implementation of Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) specifically stipulates that consultation should include homeless people and drug-users; however, Mr Preest was unaware of any consultation having taken place in Camden. (CDRPs involve elements from - and data-sharing between - local councils, police forces, ambulance trusts, social services, fire brigades, youth teams etc.)

Asked what steps Camden was taking to ensure the homeless will not themselves be victims of antisocial behaviour, Mr Preest suggested that reducing "street-based activities" was the way forward.

According to research carried out by Crisis, the homeless are 13 times more likely to experience violence and 47 times more liable to be victims of theft than the general population.
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