Anti-social behaviour is a key concern for most Brent residents. It still comes top in all surveys of opinion in the Borough, so the inconsistency of the Lib Dems now in charge of the Council is important.
Historically, the Lib Dems were completely hostile to anti-social behaviour powers. When the Act allowing ASBOs was passed in 2003, their then Home Affairs spokesman (Simon Hughes MP) said that people should be allowed to do what they like even if other people "found it frightening or intimidating".
They started rowing back from that position once they found how unpopular it was. Here in Brent, they appear just to have continued the previous Labour policy. The number of ASBOs and dispersal zones put forward is more or less the same and decided in the same way.
The exception is Mosquito devices. These are device you can fix to a wall that emit sound waves that people under twenty find unbearable, like white noise. The idea is to stop people hanging about in an area, where they intimidate people. The Police and some of our Housing Assoiciations support them, but the Liberal Democrats oppose them (according to their spokeswoman on the Council). However, I think they are less intrusive then dispersal zones because they only affect a very limited area, and they can be set to particular times.
The Lib Dems' blanket opposition seems to be simply a relic of their previous opposition to all anti-social behaviour powers.
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