Stepping up the Fight Against Crime and Anti-social Behaviour

• Alan Johnson and Hilary Benn have today outlined plans to toughen existing laws to protect the public from dangerous dogs.

• We are stepping up the fight against crime and anti-social behaviour. The Tories refuse to protect frontline policing; and they would make it harder for the Police to use DNA to catch dangerous criminals.

• Crime is down by more than a third since 1997. There are nearly 17,000 more Police; and neighbourhood policing teams are in every area of the country, committed to spending 80 per cent of their time on the beat.

• But more needs to be done to tackle the fear of crime and give power to communities to fight back against Anti-Social Behaviour.

• Hilary Benn and Alan Johnson today outline plans to toughen existing laws to protect the public from dangerous dogs. The aim of the consultation launched today is to review and streamline current legislation to better protect the public; help enforcers tackle those who abuse the law; and stop the abuse suffered by dogs that end up in the wrong hands.

• The consultation looks at:

• Extending dangerous dogs laws to cover all places including private property;
• Giving police and councils more powers to tackle the problem of dangerous dogs by the introduction of Dog Control Notices;
• Considering removing exemption rules that allow some people to keep banned types of dogs or if exemptions are to remain ensuring that the system works more effectively;
• Introduction of compulsory microchipping for dogs so that dog owners can be more easily traced; and
• Introduction of compulsory third party insurance so that victims of dog attacks are financially recompensed.

• The proposals on tackling dangerous dogs are part of government's commitment to tackling not tolerating anti-social behaviour by giving local authorities the powers they need to tackle the problem.