POLICE in Fenland hope a six-month trial backed by the Home Office will help to identify new ways of tackling anti-social behaviour.

It is one of eight similar trials due to start across Britain and Cambs Police hope it will lead to a better and more consistent approach.

Insp Richard Lowings said: “We made the decision to put forward Fenland not because we’re worse or better than anywhere else - it was a question of looking at the approach.

“Some good work has already been done in Fenland - in Wisbech for example we have already engaged with the community in a way that shows a good start has been made.”

Plans include:

• Creating an effective call handling system.

• Introducing risk assessment tools to quickly identify the most vulnerable victims.

• Exploring the use of tailored IT systems to improve information sharing between agencies working to protect such victims.

• Improving engagement with the community to identify local issues.

Insp Lowings said: “We haven’t approached this thinking there’s a major anti-social behaviour problem in Fenland.

“It’s about all of us developing how we respond to that initial call, building on the work we are already doing.”

By sharing information with other agencies - including for example councils and housing associations - quicker and better responses can happen.

“We hope to more quickly identify those communities vulnerable to anti-social behaviour,” said Insp Lowings. “We recognise the significant harm anti-social behaviour can cause to communities and we want to reassure the public we take this matter very seriously.”

He added: “It’s not about sudden change; it’s about a template of building on what we do well and with other forces pulling it all together to see what affect we can have.”