What is anti-social behaviour, hate incident, or hate crime?
We’re here to help you identify and report anti‑social behaviour (ASB), hate incidents or hate crimes. Click on the links below for more information on each.
Anti-Social Behaviour
Anti-social behaviour is conduct that causes harassment, alarm, or distress to others, such as noise complaints, vandalism, or intimidation.
Further details about anti-social behaviour, including the definition, can be found within the policy on the following link - Anti-Social Behaviour Cross Tenure Policy
Hate incidents
A hate incident is any behaviour a victim, or anyone else, believes is motivated by prejudice linked to a person’s:
- Age
- Disability
- Race
- Religion or belief
- Sexual orientation
- Transgender identity
- Variations in sex characteristics
Not all hate incidents are crimes. Behaviour like bullying, name‑calling, offensive jokes or intimidation may still be recorded as hate incidents even if the law has not been broken.
Examples of hate incidents:
- Verbal abuse, slurs, name-calling
- Offensive jokes or comments
- Bullying or intimidation
- Non‑criminal harassment
- Pushing, hitting or spitting that doesn’t meet the criminal threshold
- Threats of violence
- Abusive calls, texts, messages or hate mail
- Online abuse or trolling
- Displaying discriminatory posters or materials
- Damage to property, homes, vehicles or pets
- Graffiti
- Arson
- Throwing rubbish into gardens
- Malicious complaints (e.g. about noise, parking or smells)
Hate crimes
A hate crime is any offence—such as assault or criminal damage—believed to be motivated by prejudice or hostility towards someone’s:
- Disability
- Race
- Religion or belief
- Sexual orientation
- Transgender identity
If a criminal act is motivated by any of these, it is a hate crime.
Examples of hate crimes
When motivated by prejudice, the following become hate crimes:
- Assault
- Criminal damage
- Harassment
- Sexual assault
- Theft or burglary
- Fraud
- Hate mail
- Any offence motivated by hostility towards someone’s protected characteristic
Reporting anti-social behaviour and hate incidents
If you’re experiencing anti-social behaviour or hate incident you can report it to us by clicking on the link below. However, we’re unable to take action where the issue is caused by reasonable, everyday behaviour—for example, young children playing outside or a neighbour closing a door without any intention to cause distress.
If the behaviour appears reasonable and isn’t directed at you, you may wish to speak calmly with the individuals involved to try to resolve the issue informally. In situations that do not meet the legal definition of anti social behaviour, our ability to act may be limited.
Report anti-social behaviour here
If you’re experiencing a repeated problem with ASB—three separate incidents within six months—and feel the matter hasn’t been handled appropriately, you may be eligible to request an ASB Case Review.
Reporting hate crimes
You can report a hate crime to Staffordshire Police on 101 or contact Uniting Staffordshire Against Hate (USAH) on 0808 278 78 76. Alternatively, you can report online at the following link - Uniting Staffordshire Against Hate (USAH) - CANS