Tenants to choose cops to tackle those 'who don't give a damn'

The government is to allow tenants and residents to choose their own police officers as part of a radical package of proposals aimed at cracking down on antisocial behaviour.

The measures – due to be unveiled in a hardline strategy document on 14 October by the Home Office antisocial behaviour unit – will outline how social landlords can stamp out nuisance.

Speaking at Labour's conference in Bournemouth, Hazel Blears, minister for crime reduction, policing and community safety, said: "We need to do much more in the training of our police officers. We want to get the public as an essential part of training and selection panels. They can then say: 'these are the kind of officers we want in our communities'."

Other changes will include £75m over the next three years to ensure all councils have a named representative to address antisocial behaviour. As part of the strategy, there will be a team of practitioners launched to help councils, associations and others to deal with the issue.

Blears signalled the government's determination to tackle bad behaviour, saying: "We will act swiftly and ruthlessly to help those who are victims of antisocial behaviour. This is radical stuff, but it is the sort of policy we need to follow if we are to make a difference."

Blears – who accuses housing associations of not doing enough in the past to tackle the problem in an interview with Housing Today this week – also gave a strong hint that the government would press ahead with another controversial policy, the docking of housing benefit from antisocial tenants.

She said: "As far as poor antisocial families getting poorer are concerned, we are talking about a tiny proportion of people who simply do not give a damn."

Blears' comments came just days after Joe Tuke, deputy director of the Home Office's Antisocial Behaviour Unit, said he felt the tougher approach to nuisance would produce rapid results.

He said the unit had a "short shelf life – 3-4 years at the most". He added that the hope was that by then the response to the issue would become routine for other agencies.

Tuke said there were six areas that the government was keen to address. These include tackling persistent offenders, providing safer towns and city centres and pressing for "cultural change", so the tolerance of antisocial behaviour is lowered.