TOUGH court orders designed to curb neighbourhood menaces have saved the Basingstoke community £500,000 by cutting the cost of crime.

The news is revealed in a police report on how Anti Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) meted out to criminals have had a positive impact on the £60million annual cost of crime in the Basingstoke borough.

Pc Dave Woods, Basingstoke police anti-social behaviour co-ordinator, said the report focused on 11 recipients of ASBOs, which are handed out by the courts and prohibit prolific criminals from behaviour that causes misery to others.

He said research has revealed that these criminals are committing fewer crimes than before the orders were imposed.

He explained: "These 11 ASBOs were taken out between April and November last year. We calculated what the cost to the community would have been if the recipients had continued to offend in the same way that they had before the ASBOs were imposed.

"This figure was compared with the number of offences they committed, or we suspected they were committing, after receiving the ASBO. We calculated that the difference in the cost of crime to the community was £500,000.

"Around half of the recipients have not been committing any crime at all and the other half have been committing less than before."

Pc Woods said the £500,000 figure was calculated using a Government formula which took into account factors including the cost of damage to property through crime, the cost of victims taking days off work due to stress or illness, as well as cash spent on policing and prosecution.

So far, 17 offenders - including convicted burglars and car criminals - have been given ASBOs in Basingstoke since November 2003.

The orders are part of a range of measures implemented by Basingstoke police to try to crack down on anti-social behaviour.

These measures have included yellow card instant warnings and exclusion zones.

The ASBOs are placed by the courts on offenders after conviction, in addition to whatever sentence is handed to them.

Other agencies apart from the police, such as councils and housing associations, can also apply for ASBOs to stop nuisance neighbours causing misery to others.

The conditions of the orders target the specific problems each recipient has been causing, such as barring someone with a history of drink-related violence from pubs or banning a car criminal from car parks.

Pc Woods said the ASBOs make it easier for officers to arrest recipients in circumstances where, although they might not be caught in the act of a crime, their past history strongly suggests they are about to commit one.

Being found in breach of an ASBO is punishable by a jail sentence of up to five years.

Pc Woods said the police are very pleased with the positive effects of using ASBOs, and would continue to use them in future.

He said: "The successful orders have stopped people becoming injured through violent actions and have also stopped burglars.

"House burglary in Basingstoke is at its lowest level since 1970.

"ASBOs are a major tool in the armoury of the justice system and are all about making people in the community feel safer."