Ulster Unionist Justice Spokesman, Basil McCrea, has welcomed the cross party support which his Party’s amendment to a DUP motion received in the Assembly today. The DUP tabled a motion centred on the increasing police powers to deal with anti-social behaviour, but ultimately supported the Ulster Unionist amendment to their own motion.

The Lagan Valley Assembly member commented:

‘The DUP once again took the populist stance on an issue without taking the time to try to understand the underlying problems. Anti-social behaviour is a complex issue with many contributing factors. What the Ulster Unionist amendment did was to call on the Justice Minister to delegate greater responsibility and resources to Community Safety Partnerships and District Policing Partnerships, in connection with local government and the community and voluntary sector, to bring about local solutions to anti-social behaviour. This is a sensible and pragmatic approach to take.

The DUP motion originally called for increased police powers to deal with this issue whereas the Ulster Unionist Party amended that to call for a ‘review’ of police powers. It must be recognised that advice from Department of Justice, the Policing Board and the PSNI cannot be ignored and this advice strongly sets out that more police powers is not what is needed. There already exists adequate powers to deal with anti-social behaviour including ASBO’s, Anti-Social Behaviour Contracts, Anti-Social Behaviour Forums and Anti-Social Behavioural Officers.
‘It was pleasing that our amendment received cross party support and I was particularly heartened to see that even the DUP themselves were persuaded to amend their own motion and follow the logic of the Ulster Unionist position.”