‘Nightingale Taskforces needed’ to tackle louts

A SURGE in anti-social behaviour has led to calls for the Government to set up ‘Nightingale Taskforces’ .

These dedicated teams – composed of police officers, lawyers, mental health professionals and local authority workers – would be tasked with tackling troublemaker hotspots.

Dame Vera Baird, the Victims Commissioner, and Baroness Helen Newlove – whose husband Garry was murdered by a gang of youths in 2007 – have written to Home Secretary Priti Patel to demand more effective action.

Their move is the latest bid to cut the number of cases of loutish behaviour, which have soared by up to 140 per cent in some areas over recent weeks. Dame Vera told The Mail on Sunday: ‘It’s getting worse and affecting the most vulnerable.

‘The bedrock problem is there’s no resource to tackle anti-social behaviour before it gets worse.

‘We need local teams to tackle this and we’ve called them Nightingale Taskforces.’

The campaigners also accuse the Government of failing to act on all but one of the recommendations of Baroness Newlove’s 2019 report, Living a Nightmare, which successfully called for an end to call charges on the police’s non-emergency 101 crime-reporting number. The National Police Chiefs’ Council revealed in April that there had been a 59 per cent year-on-year surge in reports of anti-social behaviour incidents to 178,000 over four weeks, although it was believed many of those cases were linked to breaches of Covid19 regulations.

But figures shared with The Mail on Sunday now reveal ‘a huge spike’ in cases even following the easing of lockdown. One factor is thought to be the increased number of young people spending time at home.

A Government spokesman said: ‘We are carefully considering the Victims’ Commissioner’s recommendations.’