Crack squad could fine litter bugs across Basildon (From Echo)

A £75 fine is more than a lot of burglars get. What about a caution for a first offence, like thieves and muggers get.

I find this incredible - I read terrible stories on this website concerning people being stabbed in the day time, burglaries which seem to have indirectly caused the death of a pensioner and many others. Instead of more police patrolling the streets, the council target the 'petty criminals' who drops litter. This is clearly a money making scheme as they state 'the hit squad will cost the taxpayers nothing'. They really need to sort their priorites out.

Mr Chips wrote:
I find this incredible - I read terrible stories on this website concerning people being stabbed in the day time, burglaries which seem to have indirectly caused the death of a pensioner and many others. Instead of more police patrolling the streets, the council target the 'petty criminals' who drops litter. This is clearly a money making scheme as they state 'the hit squad will cost the taxpayers nothing'. They really need to sort their priorites out.

But they will help in keeping the streets of Basildon tidy. Even if it is unsafe to walk on them at any time of the day owing to muggers etc.

they'd better turn up mob handed, for two reasons

a) the amount of work'll wear out a small number of them pretty quickly, looking at the amount of litter, dog ends and dog dung on the pavements

b) safety in numbers - the 'good' folk of the area who allow their dogs to crap all over the place and refuse to clean up after them are hardly shrinking violets, as are a vast majority of litter droppers and fag-end droppers

good luck to them, I hope they 'nab' loads of people....

Dingo wrote:

Mr Chips wrote: I find this incredible - I read terrible stories on this website concerning people being stabbed in the day time, burglaries which seem to have indirectly caused the death of a pensioner and many others. Instead of more police patrolling the streets, the council target the 'petty criminals' who drops litter. This is clearly a money making scheme as they state 'the hit squad will cost the taxpayers nothing'. They really need to sort their priorites out.

But they will help in keeping the streets of Basildon tidy. Even if it is unsafe to walk on them at any time of the day owing to muggers etc.

Perhaps catching muggers isn't cost effective.

If this scheme weren't to make money, would they still press ahead with it?

Mr Chips wrote:

Dingo wrote:

Mr Chips wrote: I find this incredible - I read terrible stories on this website concerning people being stabbed in the day time, burglaries which seem to have indirectly caused the death of a pensioner and many others. Instead of more police patrolling the streets, the council target the 'petty criminals' who drops litter. This is clearly a money making scheme as they state 'the hit squad will cost the taxpayers nothing'. They really need to sort their priorites out.

But they will help in keeping the streets of Basildon tidy. Even if it is unsafe to walk on them at any time of the day owing to muggers etc.

Perhaps catching muggers isn't cost effective.

If this scheme weren't to make money, would they still press ahead with it?

There was a study carried out a few years ago that identified something called "broken window syndrome", which showed that street crime is likely to increase in areas that are plagued by litter and graffiti, so I wouldn't write this scheme off just yet.

http://www.newscient
ist.com/article/dn16
096-graffiti-and-lit
ter-lead-to-more-str
eet-crime.html

The Gentleman wrote:

Mr Chips wrote:

Dingo wrote:

Mr Chips wrote: I find this incredible - I read terrible stories on this website concerning people being stabbed in the day time, burglaries which seem to have indirectly caused the death of a pensioner and many others. Instead of more police patrolling the streets, the council target the 'petty criminals' who drops litter. This is clearly a money making scheme as they state 'the hit squad will cost the taxpayers nothing'. They really need to sort their priorites out.

But they will help in keeping the streets of Basildon tidy. Even if it is unsafe to walk on them at any time of the day owing to muggers etc.

Perhaps catching muggers isn't cost effective. If this scheme weren't to make money, would they still press ahead with it?

There was a study carried out a few years ago that identified something called "broken window syndrome", which showed that street crime is likely to increase in areas that are plagued by litter and graffiti, so I wouldn't write this scheme off just yet. http://www.newscient ist.com/article/dn16 096-graffiti-and-lit ter-lead-to-more-str eet-crime.html

That's an interesting read - I'd never read about peoples' actions being so heavily influcenced by their surroundings; hopefully the scheme will have a positive impact on peoples' behaviour.

However I wouldn't have thought that this was on the council's mind when this scheme was proposed.

Mr Chips wrote:

The Gentleman wrote:

Mr Chips wrote:

Dingo wrote:

Mr Chips wrote: I find this incredible - I read terrible stories on this website concerning people being stabbed in the day time, burglaries which seem to have indirectly caused the death of a pensioner and many others. Instead of more police patrolling the streets, the council target the 'petty criminals' who drops litter. This is clearly a money making scheme as they state 'the hit squad will cost the taxpayers nothing'. They really need to sort their priorites out.

But they will help in keeping the streets of Basildon tidy. Even if it is unsafe to walk on them at any time of the day owing to muggers etc.

Perhaps catching muggers isn't cost effective. If this scheme weren't to make money, would they still press ahead with it?

There was a study carried out a few years ago that identified something called "broken window syndrome", which showed that street crime is likely to increase in areas that are plagued by litter and graffiti, so I wouldn't write this scheme off just yet. http://www.newscient ist.com/article/dn16 096-graffiti-and-lit ter-lead-to-more-str eet-crime.html

That's an interesting read - I'd never read about peoples' actions being so heavily influcenced by their surroundings; hopefully the scheme will have a positive impact on peoples' behaviour. However I wouldn't have thought that this was on the council's mind when this scheme was proposed.

I am sure that we would all like to live in a litter/graffiti free area and I think that the council have to decide whether this initiative is a revenue raising exercise or creating a financial deterrent to littering.

I am sure the council will claim the latter.

If you walk through the town centres of both Southend and Basildon, litter bins are located every 20 yards so littering should not be as prevalent as it is.

The concern for Xfor is that if their deterrent works too well, no one will litter and they will be out of business.

A day on Southend Beach in the summer and they be millionaires.

Dingo wrote:

Mr Chips wrote:

The Gentleman wrote:

Mr Chips wrote:

Dingo wrote:

Mr Chips wrote: I find this incredible - I read terrible stories on this website concerning people being stabbed in the day time, burglaries which seem to have indirectly caused the death of a pensioner and many others. Instead of more police patrolling the streets, the council target the 'petty criminals' who drops litter. This is clearly a money making scheme as they state 'the hit squad will cost the taxpayers nothing'. They really need to sort their priorites out.

But they will help in keeping the streets of Basildon tidy. Even if it is unsafe to walk on them at any time of the day owing to muggers etc.

Perhaps catching muggers isn't cost effective. If this scheme weren't to make money, would they still press ahead with it?

There was a study carried out a few years ago that identified something called "broken window syndrome", which showed that street crime is likely to increase in areas that are plagued by litter and graffiti, so I wouldn't write this scheme off just yet. http://www.newscient ist.com/article/dn16 096-graffiti-and-lit ter-lead-to-more-str eet-crime.html

That's an interesting read - I'd never read about peoples' actions being so heavily influcenced by their surroundings; hopefully the scheme will have a positive impact on peoples' behaviour. However I wouldn't have thought that this was on the council's mind when this scheme was proposed.

I am sure that we would all like to live in a litter/graffiti free area and I think that the council have to decide whether this initiative is a revenue raising exercise or creating a financial deterrent to littering. I am sure the council will claim the latter. If you walk through the town centres of both Southend and Basildon, litter bins are located every 20 yards so littering should not be as prevalent as it is. The concern for Xfor is that if their deterrent works too well, no one will litter and they will be out of business.

If people don't want to get fined then don't litter. I hope this scheme fines as many people as possible and helps to keep the borough tidy. If the council makes money, what's the problem? The more they raise from these people the better.

Blind Haze wrote:

Dingo wrote:

Mr Chips wrote:

The Gentleman wrote:

Mr Chips wrote:

Dingo wrote:

Mr Chips wrote: I find this incredible - I read terrible stories on this website concerning people being stabbed in the day time, burglaries which seem to have indirectly caused the death of a pensioner and many others. Instead of more police patrolling the streets, the council target the 'petty criminals' who drops litter. This is clearly a money making scheme as they state 'the hit squad will cost the taxpayers nothing'. They really need to sort their priorites out.

But they will help in keeping the streets of Basildon tidy. Even if it is unsafe to walk on them at any time of the day owing to muggers etc.

Perhaps catching muggers isn't cost effective. If this scheme weren't to make money, would they still press ahead with it?

There was a study carried out a few years ago that identified something called "broken window syndrome", which showed that street crime is likely to increase in areas that are plagued by litter and graffiti, so I wouldn't write this scheme off just yet. http://www.newscient ist.com/article/dn16 096-graffiti-and-lit ter-lead-to-more-str eet-crime.html

That's an interesting read - I'd never read about peoples' actions being so heavily influcenced by their surroundings; hopefully the scheme will have a positive impact on peoples' behaviour. However I wouldn't have thought that this was on the council's mind when this scheme was proposed.

I am sure that we would all like to live in a litter/graffiti free area and I think that the council have to decide whether this initiative is a revenue raising exercise or creating a financial deterrent to littering. I am sure the council will claim the latter. If you walk through the town centres of both Southend and Basildon, litter bins are located every 20 yards so littering should not be as prevalent as it is. The concern for Xfor is that if their deterrent works too well, no one will litter and they will be out of business.

If people don't want to get fined then don't litter. I hope this scheme fines as many people as possible and helps to keep the borough tidy. If the council makes money, what's the problem? The more they raise from these people the better.

I agree that it's always useful to boost the council's coffers - however it seems that the only reason they have chosen to tackle this problem is because they can make money. If there were no profit in this scheme, would they have been concerned about littering?

Mr Chips wrote:

Blind Haze wrote:

Dingo wrote:

Mr Chips wrote:

The Gentleman wrote:

Mr Chips wrote:

Dingo wrote:

Mr Chips wrote: I find this incredible - I read terrible stories on this website concerning people being stabbed in the day time, burglaries which seem to have indirectly caused the death of a pensioner and many others. Instead of more police patrolling the streets, the council target the 'petty criminals' who drops litter. This is clearly a money making scheme as they state 'the hit squad will cost the taxpayers nothing'. They really need to sort their priorites out.

But they will help in keeping the streets of Basildon tidy. Even if it is unsafe to walk on them at any time of the day owing to muggers etc.

Perhaps catching muggers isn't cost effective. If this scheme weren't to make money, would they still press ahead with it?

There was a study carried out a few years ago that identified something called "broken window syndrome", which showed that street crime is likely to increase in areas that are plagued by litter and graffiti, so I wouldn't write this scheme off just yet. http://www.newscient ist.com/article/dn16 096-graffiti-and-lit ter-lead-to-more-str eet-crime.html

That's an interesting read - I'd never read about peoples' actions being so heavily influcenced by their surroundings; hopefully the scheme will have a positive impact on peoples' behaviour. However I wouldn't have thought that this was on the council's mind when this scheme was proposed.

I am sure that we would all like to live in a litter/graffiti free area and I think that the council have to decide whether this initiative is a revenue raising exercise or creating a financial deterrent to littering. I am sure the council will claim the latter. If you walk through the town centres of both Southend and Basildon, litter bins are located every 20 yards so littering should not be as prevalent as it is. The concern for Xfor is that if their deterrent works too well, no one will litter and they will be out of business.

If people don't want to get fined then don't litter. I hope this scheme fines as many people as possible and helps to keep the borough tidy. If the council makes money, what's the problem? The more they raise from these people the better.

I agree that it's always useful to boost the council's coffers - however it seems that the only reason they have chosen to tackle this problem is because they can make money. If there were no profit in this scheme, would they have been concerned about littering?

Tidy up the town and make money in the process. What's the problem? It's an excellent idea.

What the story fails to point out is that the external company take the money from the fines, I think the council get £5 from every £50 fine. The external company take the majority to fund the 4 extra enforcement officers, so the council won't make money from this, it just won't cost them anything either. So it basically allows them to employ four more people to deter people from dropping litter at no extra cost.

Blind Haze wrote:

Mr Chips wrote:

Blind Haze wrote:

Dingo wrote:

Mr Chips wrote:

The Gentleman wrote:

Mr Chips wrote:

Dingo wrote:

Mr Chips wrote: I find this incredible - I read terrible stories on this website concerning people being stabbed in the day time, burglaries which seem to have indirectly caused the death of a pensioner and many others. Instead of more police patrolling the streets, the council target the 'petty criminals' who drops litter. This is clearly a money making scheme as they state 'the hit squad will cost the taxpayers nothing'. They really need to sort their priorites out.

But they will help in keeping the streets of Basildon tidy. Even if it is unsafe to walk on them at any time of the day owing to muggers etc.

Perhaps catching muggers isn't cost effective. If this scheme weren't to make money, would they still press ahead with it?

There was a study carried out a few years ago that identified something called "broken window syndrome", which showed that street crime is likely to increase in areas that are plagued by litter and graffiti, so I wouldn't write this scheme off just yet. http://www.newscient ist.com/article/dn16 096-graffiti-and-lit ter-lead-to-more-str eet-crime.html

That's an interesting read - I'd never read about peoples' actions being so heavily influcenced by their surroundings; hopefully the scheme will have a positive impact on peoples' behaviour. However I wouldn't have thought that this was on the council's mind when this scheme was proposed.

I am sure that we would all like to live in a litter/graffiti free area and I think that the council have to decide whether this initiative is a revenue raising exercise or creating a financial deterrent to littering. I am sure the council will claim the latter. If you walk through the town centres of both Southend and Basildon, litter bins are located every 20 yards so littering should not be as prevalent as it is. The concern for Xfor is that if their deterrent works too well, no one will litter and they will be out of business.

If people don't want to get fined then don't litter. I hope this scheme fines as many people as possible and helps to keep the borough tidy. If the council makes money, what's the problem? The more they raise from these people the better.

I agree that it's always useful to boost the council's coffers - however it seems that the only reason they have chosen to tackle this problem is because they can make money. If there were no profit in this scheme, would they have been concerned about littering?

Tidy up the town and make money in the process. What's the problem? It's an excellent idea.

I think this is a superb idea - the area is full of litter, and litterbugs (including those dogowners who let their 'pets' sh1t anywhere, but don't clear it up).
It seems a financial incentive is what most people need to stop doing things like this, so this scheme exactly fits the bill.

Heres a thought...Pcso's can give tickets for littering and dog fouling as can police officers as can community protection officers so why dont they?
If the offender refuses to give personal details or refuses to take the penalty notice from security officers then what?
Also what about the street cleaners can we assume they will be on the dole?
Whilst it is an admirable suggestion to clean the streets using private security firms surely this is one step away from legalising vigilante groups to deal with minor offences.

If our streets and town centres are free of litter and graffiti; I don't mind who collects the fines, the reason for revenue collection or who profits.

I agree with The Gentleman; it has been proved that a squalid environment provokes more of the same as well as crime.

Why o why.
Basildon is one of the cleanest town I know people always use the bins to place their rubbish in .I went to the town cenre two years ago and it was spotless,I will have to vist again soon.to look for myself

Why o why.
Basildon is one of the cleanest town I know people always use the bins to place their rubbish in .I went to the town cenre two years ago and it was spotless,I will have to vist again soon.to look for myself

This has got to be a joke? Theres crime happening and they are sending a team of ex soldiers and police to target people dropping litter

regardless of a lot of the comments about 'boosting the coffers' etc., I for one hope they fine loads of people for littering etc.