Police are to be encouraged to harass known troublemakers in a crackdown on anti-social behaviour.

Officers will be urged to give those who persistently make their neighbours' lives hell "a taste of their own medicine" by subjecting them to repeated visits, checks and warnings.

Their details could be shared with other Government agencies, so that they can be targeted for checks on whether they have paid their road tax, car insurance, TV licence and council tax.

The new initiative comes as statistics are released which are expected to show a fall in the number of anti-social behaviour orders (Asbos) issued by local authorities and police forces.

But the drop will be matched by a large increase in the number of "early intervention" procedures designed to nip anti-social behaviour in the bud and avoid the need for an Asbo.

Home Office officials believe the fall in the number of Asbos may be due to an increased readiness by local authorities, police and magistrates to use acceptable behaviour contracts, parenting orders and individual support orders to encourage improved behaviour.

Speaking to an audience of professionals involved in tackling anti-social behaviour in Westminster, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said £250,000 is being put into an Action Squad to encourage areas with low take-up of early intervention measures to make more use of them.

Ms Smith cited Essex Police's Operation Leopard, in which those involved in persistent anti-social behaviour are left in no doubt that police have their eye on them.

Officers identify troublemakers through intelligence and interviews with local residents.

They then knock on the doors of known offenders, warn them that their behaviour will not be tolerated and then repeatedly photograph and question them and their associates in the streets over the course of several days.

Essex Police report "dramatic" results from the new approach, with burglaries, criminal damage and car crime stopping altogether in the course of an operation on one estate and remaining at a low level afterwards.

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