Reading Borough Council has called on members of the public to help it tackle anti-social behaviour using a smart phone app.
The council is encouraging people to use Reportable, an app which can be used to report incidents, to mark Anti-Social Behaviour Week.
Reportable works by letting you send photos and reports of incidents with photos and GPS location directly to the council.
If a report of anti-social behaviour has already been made, information can be added to it to help the council and partners such as Thames Valley Police to tackle the issue.
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Reportable can be used to report abandoned vehicles, graffiti, littering, potholes and more.
The council began using Reportable last year, and so far almost 400 incidents have been reporting using it.
The most common reports in Reading involve disturbance caused by cars and motorbikes, drug dealing, intimidation and harassment, and damage.
Reportable has been used to take action against a male who was driving a scooter inappropriately in McIlroy Park, Tilehurst in April.
Persistent use of McIlroy Park by motorbikers has led the council to install CCTV to deter those causing a nuisance there.
The app was also used in March to report a trail bike being driven in an anti-social manner in Coley, which eventually led to the police to seize the bike.
Encouraging residents to use the app, Karen Rowland (Labour, Abbey) lead councillor for community safety, said: “Anti-social behaviour can have a detrimental effect on residents’ quality of life and our Reportable app is a really great tool to help combat anti-social behaviour head-on.
“It is truly encouraging that through the diligence and efforts of our residents, we’ve been able to minimise anti-social behaviour over the past year since the app’s introduction.
“We take a zero-tolerance approach to anti-social behaviour, but as we cannot be everywhere, our communities can play a critical role in helping alert us to incidents. With critical information we then work together with the Police and agencies to crack down on the offenders.
“I am calling on every resident that is able, to download the Reportable app and get using it so they can help us take the action that our communities deserve. The app is easy, quick and efficient to use.
Residents get responses on the app too, that is really reassuring.
Anti-social behaviour won’t go away tomorrow, but by downloading the app, you can help us take critical steps to reducing anti-social behaviour right where you live and work”.
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You can download Reportable via the iPhone and Android app stores.
Anti-Social Behaviour Week is taking place between 18-24 of July.
In addition to using Reportable, the council has the Love Clean Reading app to report incidents of litter and flytipping, and a safer streets programme, formed in partnership with the police, with the aim of making neighbourhoods safer for residents by assisting them with security, use of mobile CCTV to capture anti-social and criminal incidents, and hosting informative community events.
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