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West Bridgford
Friday, February 7, 2025

Burglaries spike in Nottingham when students return but crackdown yields results

A neighbourhood inspector says a “really concerted effort” to clamp down on burglary is starting to yield impressive results.

Inspector Ben Lawrence took over the reins at the City Centre neighbourhood policing team last September and set burglary as one of his core priorities.

The district – which encompasses Berridge, Radford & Park, Hyson Green & Arboretum and Wollaton East & Lenton Abbey wards – has a large student population and is frequently targeted by burglars.

But high-visibility patrols, awareness campaigns and a plethora of arrests means the district is currently projected to record a 52% drop in burglary reports, when comparing this month to last month (December 2022).

“We’ve seen a significant reduction in burglary over recent weeks,” Inspector Lawrence revealed. “That could be because students weren’t here during the festive break – but it’s also because we’ve had some really good results in terms of making arrests, with the city burglary team and CID also working hard in the background to crack cases.

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“We’ve also had a lot of proactive patrols in student areas as part of Operation Graduate, which is the deployment of high-visibility and plain-clothed officers to deter and catch burglars.”

Inspector Lawrence said his team had also been working closely with Nottingham’s two universities to educate students on how to keep their possessions safe.

“We always see a spike in burglaries when students arrive in Nottingham,” he said. “That’s because many can be quite lax in their personal security and it makes them quite easy targets. But there’s been a really concerted effort from us as a police force and the universities to tackle the issue.

“The universities have been really helpful in terms of pushing out crime prevention advice on how to keep possessions safe.

“Jointly, I think all that work has started to have an impact. Having said that, we’ve still got a way to go and we will continue to do everything we can to keep people and their possessions safe, and I am currently putting long-term operations and problem-solving plans in place to further reduce burglary.”

Nottinghamshire Police is focusing on the work carried out by police in the community this week as part of neighbourhood policing week of action, which runs from 23-29 January 2023.

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