CASES of anti-social behaviour in Newport have dropped by more than 3,000 in a year.

Between April and November, there were 8,139 reports of anti-social behaviour in the city, compared to 11,218 in the same period in 2010.

Police say the reasons that cases have fallen by 3,079 – 27.4 per cent – comes down to the way they take on the problems and the people they work with.

In previous years police would tackle anti-social behaviour by area, using only their resources.

Now a different approach, targeting individuals, has yielded great results.

Working with Newport City Council, Communities First, and social landlords including Newport City Homes, Melin and Charter Housing, they now have more options available for both deterrents and punishments.

At one end of the scale, if there is a repeat offender living in a Newport City Homes house, or if the person living there is allowing guests to be a repeated nuisance, there are powers to have people evicted.

However, this is a long process and a last resort.

Police sergeants from across Newport told the Argus that force schemes are used to give youngsters activities to occupy their time. This can stop them drifting into anti-social behaviour.

The Early Intervention team speak to youngsters across Newport to see if there is anything they think their area would benefit from.

Then, using a mix of Welsh Assembly money and cash awarded to each force across England and Wales accrued from the Proceeds of Crime Act, neighbourhood teams can fund the projects.

In Beechwood, following suggestions from people in the area, police put on a film club every other Friday. In other areas, they run sports nights.

Taking the approach that prevention is better than cure, the police put a lot of effort into this.

Newport East sergeant Dave Morgan said: “For every hour police spend on the street patrolling, they’ve probably put five or six hours-worth of work into diversionary tactics.”

Police can also issue a parenting order to people whose child is subject to an Anti- Social Behaviour Order, compelling them to take classes and take responsibility for their child.

They say this can go a long way to stop young people continuing down the wrong path.