Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

‘Scourge’ of anti-social behaviour blights Dundee, as 855 complaints recorded in three months

Chief Superintendent Andrew Todd.
Chief Superintendent Andrew Todd.

A “scourge” of anti-social behaviour blighting Dundee must be targeted, councillors have said.

There were more than 800 complaints of noise, violence, drug dealing and other nuisances in just three months according to a new report.

Between July and September there were 855 reports of anti-social behaviour made to Dundee City Council.

Most of the complaints related to Lochee, Coldside and the East End and a third of all drug-related reports were made in Lochee.

At a meeting of the community safety and public protection committee  on Monday, Lochee councillor Charlie Malone said desperate residents have pleased with him for help, saying they are unable to sleep due to constant noise.

“This report shows the sheer scale of this and the scourge on the city,” he said.

“There have been more than 800 cases in just one quarter, which is about 3,500 in one year, which just shows how anti-social behaviour is blighting the city.

“Often there becomes an entire breakdown in relationships and people never return to feeling safe and secure at home.

“We need to give assurances that there are resources to tackle this.”

Almost 400 of the anti-social behaviour complaints were related to noise, the highest type of dispute. This was followed by general nuisance, verbal abuse or threats and disturbance due to drugs. Neighbour dispute and harassment were also common complaints.

Coldside councillor George McIrvine pointed out the areas of the city with the highest rates of anti-social behaviour are also among the most poverty-stricken.

“Looking at the areas with the highest number of cases, there is a direct link between poverty and anti-social behaviour and we need to look at that connection when trying to tackle both,” he said.

Elaine Zwirlein, the council’s executive director of neighbourhood services, said the anti-social behaviour team works with other authorities, including the police, to target problems at a local level.

Earlier in the meeting, Police Scotland’s Tayside divisional commander, Chief Superintendent Andrew Todd, told councillors that officer patrols are being targeted in areas attracting the most complaints.

It came as he presented a report of the latest crime figures in Dundee, which showed 170 emergency services staff were attacked while working this summer.

He called the assaults “utterly unacceptable”, adding: “It is not part of our job to be attacked.

“We do huge amounts of work to reduce this and support staff. It is a crime and the courts are very supportive when it comes to protecting the emergency services.

“Colleagues  should expect a safe working environment and  we are doing a lot of work on this but this has been delayed due to coronavirus.”

He added that Police Scotland has increased the number of officer safety training days offered.