Cleveland Police use money seized from criminals to tackle antisocial behaviour on Teesside

The Police and Crime Commissioner will award £50,000 to community groups, to fund projects that will help reduce or prevent antisocial behaviour. Credit: ITV Tyne Tees

Cleveland's Police and Crime Commissioner Steve Turner has launched a £50,000 fund to tackle Anti Social Behaviour (ASB) on Teesside.

ASB has become a big issue in the area over the past few years, with frequent dispersal orders in areas like Hemlington. Most recently, the force did a week of action to try and tackle the problem.

The PCC is inviting charities to apply for funding from the 'Antisocial Behaviour Fund' to support projects that will work towards preventing and reducing antisocial behaviour and/or boost a community’s ability to deal with its related problems.

The fund offers grants of up to £5,000 per project - and the bulk of the money will come from the Police Property Act Fund (PPAF), much of which is raised by the seizure and sale of money and goods that were the proceeds of crime.

Projects will run between April to September with the opportunity for projects to be in place during peak times such as school Easter and Summer holidays.

Turner said: “A key priority of the current Cleveland Police and Crime Plan is tackling antisocial behaviour head-on.

“Working with my team, I have developed this dedicated one-off fund to find innovative solutions, which will work towards reducing and diverting people away from ASB.

“ASB is often criminal behaviour and I’ve seen first-hand the misery, which it can cause. It can blight the lives of whole communities and it severely limits the quality of life for so many.

“We need to work together with our communities – and the agencies which represent them – to tackle and reduce ASB across the board.”