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The photographs of eight young men, each a persistent offender, stare down from the walls. They are all aged between 14-17 and have heroin problems. Someone has written "Beware of these males" in green highlighter pen next to two of the photos.

This forbidding introduction to the Newham antisocial behaviour team's headquarters, set amid squat beige buildings and several portakabins just off east London's Barking Road, serves as a reminder that operating as a member of such a team is not for the faint-hearted. So, to work...

1pm - The eight-strong team of community constables start their shift early for our photo shoot. Already their walkie-talkies constantly beep and chatter. Pele Mahmood, a plain-clothes visiting officer for the crime and antisocial behaviour division, shows me the council's antisocial behaviour bus. He and the team take it around to different parts of the borough several times a week to highlight the issue and let residents know what they can do when they experience antisocial behaviour. He grew up in Newham so knows the area's problem hotspots well.

Previously one of the community constables, Pele is on secondment for the next two months to the division and will visit alleged victims and alleged perpetrators of antisocial behaviour across the borough. It is a job he enjoys and he reckons he is able to defuse half of all the cases he is allocated simply by visiting people and listening to what they say, "without having to wave a big stick at them".

1.15pm - Community constabulary sergeant Paul Singleton gets a message on his walkie-talkie about an incident at the council's one-stop shop office on Green Street. A man with mental health problems is causing a disturbance within the office and Paul dispatches four officers to deal with it.

Pele drives to a local primary school to see the head teacher following her complaint about an alleged incident of racist behaviour between parents. Pele interviews the head teacher about the alleged incident, carefully taking notes. The head teacher asks for the school not to be identified in this feature for fear of attracting the wrong sort of publicity. Next, Pele hears first-hand from the school's admin officer about the verbal exchange between the parents. He has to coax her into using the exact swear words she heard. Conducting both interviews takes an hour and Pele jokes he wants a cup of tea in future.

After the interviews Pele has to report back to his superiors and a decision will be made as to whether or not the parents will need to be visited to give statements.

3.40pm - Next on Pele's list is a visit to the Uddin family (not their real name), who live in temporary accommodation on the eighth floor of a tower block. Two weeks ago 31-year-old Mohammad Uddin was assaulted by five young men aged 15 to 19 while walking home.

It was 12.30pm and he had just finished his job at an Indian takeaway. One of the teenagers stopped him and Mohammad, who does not speak English, immediately gave him his bus pass and the only money he had - £10. This did not stop the group from attacking him and breaking his nose in four places and damaging his legs. His wife Nehar had to stand him in the bath to wash the blood off after he stumbled home.

Pele had interviewed Mohammad the day before after the division was contacted by the family's local councillor about the incident. Today, he checks if they have any other questions arising from the interview.

Mohammad, speaking through his wife, says he wants more CCTV cameras in the area and Pele assures him they are already in place. So how does it feel having a professional such as Pele visit? "It is like they care because someone has intervened," says Nehar. When asked what Mohammad wants to happen to the young people who attacked him his answer surprises us all: "I want them to be educated to know that this behaviour is wrong. Putting them in prison would only make them more stubborn."

4.30pm - Pele drives to Tesco to stock up with sandwiches, salad and doughnuts for lunch. The food is eaten back in the main office with community constables Tejae Greaves and her husband and work partner Von Greaves, who are not yet out on a call. Pele says he is often so busy he forgets to eat. A discussion starts between Tejae and Von, who are sharing a Chinese takeaway, about the behaviour of the young people they come across. "You just wouldn't have been like that to your parents when I was a kid," says Von. He became a community constable in early summer after completing the same training and exams as those entering the Metropolitan police. He had spent the past 20 years working in club security, which is how he met his wife Tejae, and feels he has the relevant experience required for the job.


6pm - Sergeant Paul Singleton is coming to the end of his shift and the tiredness shows in his eyes. He has been on the go all day as the only sergeant on duty. But now, finally, he sits down and accepts a doughnut. After nearly 10 years as a volunteer special constable with Essex police, Paul joined Newham's community constabulary five years ago as a constable and was promoted to sergeant after 12 months. He sees his role as that of an educator: "We have to protect people and property and we have to educate people to be responsible." Part of this involves acting as a mediator between people and the services they can recommend. "As a local authority police service we have access to all its services," he says. "This means we don't go in heavy handed but try to find a way of accessing the youth service or football club to help them focus on something else."

7pm - Tejae and Von Greaves start a patrol of the area in their marked car. As night falls in Newham the atmosphere changes, becoming more threatening. As we drive past a tube station Von points out the local drug dealers hanging around outside. They look all of 17 years old.

Tejae has worked for Newham for more than two years having worked in a similar role for Hammersmith and Fulham Council. She says: "You have to be able to communicate with people, especially young people, at their own level." Tejae proves this point when we drive through a small, respectable-looking housing estate and are greeted by a group of 10 teenage boys. They all laugh and smile with her and Von and joke around with our photographer. So how do they feel about having an antisocial team check up on them? Chulon Nim, 17, says he feels safer knowing the community constables are around. He is quick to mention that while some groups of teenagers "want to cause" trouble, he and his friends do not. John Wright, also 17, is more critical. "They pick on a certain area and drive up and down non-stop. We live around here and they expect us to go to other places."

8pm - It's clocking off time after a long shift. Everyone goes home weary, ready to do the same tomorrow.

A first for Newham:  The London Borough of Newham is the first council in the country to have a multi-disciplinary division dedicated to tackling antisocial behaviour. Its crime and antisocial behaviour division is part of Newham's community constabulary. The division contains 33 community constables and four community sergeants divided into six teams. The teams work in four shifts over a 24-hour period. They operate alongside 30 community police support officers, six metropolitan police officers, three metropolitan police sergeants, a metropolitan police inspector and 10 borough wardens, all directly employed by the council.  Such is Newham's commitment to tackling antisocial behaviour that mayor Robin Wales allocated the crime and antisocial behaviour division £10m on top of its existing budget for 2004-6.  The division is based in Newham Council's emergency and control centre.