Hit-squads are being touted as the lastest weapon in the war against the public's number one fear. Nick Morrison talks to the chief constable who has anti-social behaviour in his sights.

IT'S an Ask the Audience with a difference. Instead of putting their general knowledge to the test, the audience use their keypads to rank their law and order concerns. And, amid drugs, burglary and violence, one issue consistently comes out on top: anti-social behaviour.

For Sean Price, Chief Constable of Cleveland Police, the consensus from a series of public meetings across his force area simply reinforces the message he is given wherever he goes.

"We're bringing crime down, but at every public meeting I go to and every residents' meeting I go to, anti-social behaviour is top of their list. It is what the public say is the most important policing issue for them," he says.

It is armed with the knowledge that it is the public's number one concern that Mr Price has put together plans to create dedicated hit-squads to deal with the problem.

Last Friday, the force lodged a bid for nearly £1m of Home Office cash to recruit 40 Police and Community Safety Officers (PCSOs), who will be given responsibility for clamping down on anti-social behaviour. Split into two teams of 20, with each team supported by five regular officers, they will target problem areas - the first time the PCSOs have been used in this way.

"There is a perception that we're not taking it seriously enough, but we do put an awful lot of time and resources into dealing with anti-social behaviour, and this gives us an opportunity to be able to put a lot more resources in and show the public how seriously we view this matter," Mr Price says.

The hit-squads will be able to take action to break up groups of youths which are threatening the public, but he says one of their main roles will be in providing a visible uniformed presence.

"A lot of the problem with anti-social behaviour is not what people are actually doing, but the fear of the public of what they're doing, and if there is a uniformed presence they will be reassured.

"There is a hard core of, usually young, people who are involved in quite serious intimidation, damage, graffiti and other forms of crime, operating in many of our estates. They are being arrested, reported for summons or dealt with by anti-social behaviour orders.

"But in the midst of that there is a whole group of youngsters who perhaps would say that they gather on the streets either to watch the antics of this other group, or because they isn't anywhere else to go.

"The perception of the problem is greater than it really is, and that is not to diminish the extent of the problem. These extra officers would enhance our capability to deal with the crimes, but also to make people feel safer by being a visible, reassuring presence. The reassurance is a big factor."

Although the PCSOs are able to deal with minor offences, they do not have the police powers of arrest, and with a starting salary of just over £14,000, compared with just under £20,000 for a regular officer, they cost considerably less, but Mr Price denies his proposal is policing on the cheap and points to the experience with the force's existing 80 PCSOs as evidence it can work.

"I want to do this in addition to what we're already doing, not instead of. We have the opportunity to get 40 extra people to work in Cleveland on the issue of anti-social behaviour. If there was a possibility of 40 police officers as well, I would go for that.

"But our experience is they are extremely useful and extremely effective. The 80 we have at the moment have helped to solve burglaries and robberies and they have led to a lot of arrests and they are reassuring to the public: they're out on the streets, highly visible, and the public have got to know them," he says.

By working in the community, the PCSOs are also in a better position to identify the ring-leaders and perpetrators of any trouble than officers who are not so familiar with the area, he says. They will also be working with regular officers, and will be able to call for additional help if necessary.

"It is a different sort of a deterrent, but it is nonetheless a deterrent," he adds.

Although the squads will not start operating until March - assuming the Home Office funding is forthcoming - he says work is already underway on identifying the areas with the worst problems, which exist throughout the force area.

But while the prospect of 20 officers swooping on a group of teenagers hanging around outside an off-licence may seem to some a little heavy-handed, Mr Price insists it is a vital part of his strategy.

"Sometimes you have quite large groups of young people, and to deal with that you need quite large numbers. The advantage of having 20 is you can put a large presence down.

"What we need to do is put enough PCSOs around to deal with the problems that are confronting people in their area. Sometimes their presence alone will do 90 per cent of the job, sometimes they will need to detain the group and get their names on our system," he says.

He also differentiates between this approach and zero tolerance policing, even though the hit-squads aim to stop those committing fairly minor crimes from progressing to more serious offences. He says the difference is the hit-squads aim to intervene to prevent anti-social behaviour, and will not necessarily take action against youths who disperse and stop causing a problem.

He is realistic over the extent of the problem, and acknowledges that it will take more than the police on their own to solve, but says his immediate aim is to turn the tide of public disorder, graffiti, litter and criminal damage.

Inspired by the tales of people who lock their doors at 6pm and dare not open them again until the next morning, he says it is an issue which has to be taken seriously.

"I go to public meetings and I hear the misery that can be caused by relatively small numbers of young people, who will torment and persecute people in our communities, and to be able to put in a big presence could really help to restore the balance between rights and responsibilities," he says.

"Some of the young people who are misbehaving probably know their rights very well, but we would like to get the message across that they have a responsibility to people in the community, to treat them with respect."