Home Secretary Jack Straw urged people to end the ''walk on by'' society and to follow his example in challenging a teenager who was spitting at passers-by.
Mr Straw said he was not calling on people to put themselves in danger by tackling violent criminals, but encouraging responsible citizens to take a stand against low-level crime.
His call was welcomed by victim support groups and church leaders who compared his stance to the Good Samaritan.
However it was condemned as simplistic by some professionals, and police urged people not to take the law into their own hands.
The Home Secretary, who has also made several citizen's arrests, said he was waiting for a train in his Blackburn constituency earlier this month when he saw a youngster aged 11 or 12 spitting over a parapet on people walking below.
The Home Secretary asked him how he would like to be spat on.
Mr Straw, who was accompanied from a distance by an armed protection officer, said the youth ''gave me quite a lot of lip'' but then calmed down.
The Home Secretary said if he had done nothing, the youngster would have thought he could get away with such behaviour. He said it was often more a case of ''having a word'' than having a go.
However Professor Bob Holman, a community worker in Easterhouse, Glasgow, warned that intervening could be counter-productive and said Mr Straw's suggestion was ''too simplistic''.
''It's the glib remark of a wealthy politician,'' he said.
Intervening with youths in whose area you lived could give rise to grudges against an individual, he warned. Ignoring trouble did not express approval: ''It might express justified fear.
''I'm not saying nothing should be done. But action needs to be taken collectively within a neighbourhood and by people who are in a good relationship with the youngsters who cause trouble.''
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