Thames Valley Police (TVP) has launched a campaign to empower witnesses and victims of antisocial behaviour (ASB) to speak out and report incidents, featuring artwork designed by a student at Milton Keynes College. 

Towards the end of last year, TVP visited graphic design students from Milton Keynes College to talk to them about ASB and the effect this can have on communities. 

The students were given the opportunity to design adverts to support the campaign and encourage reporting of any instances of antisocial behaviour that they see.  The winning design was by Milton Keynes College student Chiamaka Ahaneku.  

ASB is not always categorised as a crime and often takes a multi-agency response. It can also occur during an incident which involves another crime type.  

A national report into antisocial behaviour in 2024, published by Resolve UK, found that there were likely more than five million incidents of ASB nationwide in 2023. Not only that, ASB has forced more than one in seven of us to consider moving home, with one in four left feeling unsafe in their area.   

Dishearteningly, YouGov data continually shows that more than half of victims or witnesses to all types of ASB do not report them. In the last three years, only 26 per cent of victims and witnesses reported an ASB incident to the police.   

Head of Thames Valley Police’s Community Policing Command, Superintendent John Batty, said: “Antisocial behaviour can take many forms, from noise nuisance and graffiti to neighbour disputes and drug dealing. It can be a real blight on people’s lives. ASB is not a crime in itself but a description for a number of behaviours, many of which can be criminal offences.  

“The police are not always the agency with the right powers to tackle every ASB issue, for instance local authorities have the powers to deal with noise nuisance. However, it is important that agencies work in partnership, to identify and tackle the root causes of ASB. In order to do that effectively, we need people who are affected by ASB to report it to us.”   

Deputy Head of School for Arts and Media at Milton Keynes College, Kyle Kirkpatrick, said: “It’s fantastic that our students have been able to support the new campaign against antisocial behaviour from Thames Valley Police. They all loved working on a project that can make a real difference in local communities and the designs that they came up with were fantastic. We’re particularly proud of Chiamaka for producing the winning design, and we’re hopeful that her design can help to make the campaign a success”.  

Thames Valley Police urge anyone who experiences or witnesses ASB to report it  via their  website.  

For more information on studying Graphic Design at Milton Keynes College, visit Graphic Design Advanced – MK College