By Chris Harper
Last years sharp increase in anti-social behaviour around Halloween caused many concerns in Leicester communities.
Councils of Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland have launched the campaign ‘Are you in? Are you out?’ this week and are working closely with police in order to prevent rise in calls.
Chief Inspector Sian Walls of Leicestershire Police said: “We always see an increase in calls relating to anti-social behaviour on Halloween and we want to encourage trick-or-treaters to respect peoples’ wishes and not to knock on doors where they are not welcome.
“It is also important to remember that there will be many young people knocking on doors in the spirit of Halloween and if done in the right manner, that isn’t anti-social behaviour it can be fun.”
In order to prevent anti-social behaviour, the campaign encourages people to use posters saying either ‘Trick-or-Treaters Welcome Here’ or ’No Thanks Trick-or-Treaters’.
Extra officers will be on call for Halloween night as well as special constables and youth offender teams to crack down on incidents that may occur this Friday.
Leicestershire Police last year received 134 non-urgent calls about anti-social behaviour last Halloween compared to the average the 68 calls a day.
Wayne Fisher, 44, of Elsdon Close, Whitwick, believed that there are no concerns over anti-social behaviour in his area on October 31.
“I don’t really see much of a problem on Halloween, not around here.”
“You get some older kids just begging for sweets but there’s nothing serious,” he added.
Leicestershire Police has sent out presentations for schools to in order to help children understand what anti-social behaviour is.
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