For residents of Oldham, antisocial behaviour is pervasive. The lack of safety in the town centre is palpable, day or night. Three of its police stations have gone, shops and restaurants have vanished, the market has emptied. As one local mother says: “There is not a chance you walk round Oldham town centre on your own.” Hopping on a tram to Manchester is no better: the carriages are likely to be empty — ridership stalled years ago — and it can feel just as threatening. According to another resident: “You take your life into your hands for a £3.60 return.”
These worries, from focus groups conducted in the northwestern town last year, highlight one of the greatest national problems right now: crime, specifically the persistent
