The number of anti-social behaviour orders handed out in Birmingham has rocketed with an increasing number of complaints in privately-owned residential areas.
According to figures released by Birmingham's Anti-Social Behaviour Unit, 52 Asbos were handed out to under-18s in the year to this April.
However, between April and last month, 30 were handed out.
The city's council's cabinet yesterday approved a proposal to fund an additional 13 BASBU officers, to boost its strength to 29 and tackle the deluge of complaints.
"We are going after more gangs and we are moving more and more into the private sector with the advent of the helpline," said Alison Parsons, BASBU policy manager.
"We are stretched at the moment. When you start you don't know how many people you are going to need. Success breeds success," she said.
"In Erdington, for example, we took lots of actions after obtaining Asbos for a gang there. People were more aware of what could be done.
"You've got to get on top of things if you are able to nip anti-social behaviour in the bud. But we are not there yet."
Birmingham City Council obtained its first Asbo in 2002 under powers granted by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.
It is the most efficient legal means the council has at its disposal to deal with antisocial behaviour in under-18s and on non-council estates.
Where it involves gangs, anti-social behaviour typically encompasses a range of elements, from verbal abuse and intimidating behaviour to threats of violence, and acts of vandalism such as kicking in bus shelters.
A number of residents are usually affected, feeling they cannot go about their lives as normal.
An Asbo is a controlling mechanism which can be tailored to meet the seriousness of behaviour.
"It is saying stop doing what you shouldn't be doing or you will have committed a criminal offence," said Mrs Parsons.
More serious behaviour, such as harassment and threats of violence, can be met with stricter measures, such as the imposition of curfews or streets identified as out of bounds.
Most of the officers' work is still on council estates where there is a traditional recourse to the local authority in cases of neighbour nuisance.
This is where injunctions are effective - there were 96 last year and 18 committals to court for breaches.
But calls to their hotline, set up in 2004, have proved that action on anti-social behaviour is not confined to council estates.
" Social attitudes have changed. There's been a decline in behavioural standards over perhaps the last 30 years," said Mrs Parsons.
"It's been fairly gradual and it's reached a point where people think we don't have to put up with this.
"In some ways people have lost the ability to talk to neighbours or neighbours' children."
Mrs Parsons said the biggest challenge the unit faced was people having the confidence to report anti-social behaviour.
"Legislation came in that put the onus on the community to report it to us to tackle it with them.
"We don't expect people to put on their deerstalker hats and tell us where they live and what their names are. We talk to witnesses to find out what they know and will monitor what is happening.
"If we are going for a legal action we almost always get it."
There are a "few hundred" investigations going on across Birmingham at any one time into anti-social behaviour, with between ten and 20 cameras set up to record evidence of it.
"We have 16 officers for the whole city at the moment and four or five might be involved in one case - two or three officers witnessing behaviour if it goes on late at night, then we need people covering their duties the next day," said BASBU manager Ian McGibbon.
