A raft of measures to tackle antisocial behaviour and criminal damage have been put in place by Nottinghamshire Police’s City North team.
The neighbourhood team – which covers Bulwell, Bestwood and Sherwood – targeted hotspot areas with increased patrols, encouraged more reporting from the public and worked closely with partners in order to target the priority crimes.
The team worked with behavioural specialists in schools to identify and discourage young people from engaging in antisocial behaviour. Educational sessions were also used to explain to children what criminal damage is and why it’s a problem.
Additional CCTV cameras were also installed in Rufford Walk and near to the Blenheim Industrial Estate, both in Bulwell, in partnership with Nottingham City Council, to further reduce instances of antisocial behaviour. This saw the issues in Rufford Walk, which centred around verbal abuse directed at shopkeepers in the area, stop altogether. Incidents of antisocial behaviour involving motorbikes at Blenheim Industrial Estate were also greatly reduced.
The crimes were made neighbourhood priorities for the first quarter of 2020 after they were identified through the Crime and Drugs Partnership respect survey and by feedback gathered from residents by the beat team.
Neighbourhood Inspector Christine Busuttil said: “We’re committed to listening to what’s important to the community, and I’m really pleased with the extra work we’ve been able to do around antisocial behaviour and criminal damage.
“It’s great to see that residents feel confident to come forward and tell us when there are issues.”
The team’s work on tackling antisocial behaviour and criminal damage follows the launch of Nottinghamshire Police’s ‘What matters?’ survey, which is encouraging communities across the county to have their say on what police in their area should be focusing their efforts on addressing.
The online survey – which represents one of the biggest public consultation exercises in the force’s history – takes just a few minutes to complete and gives the public a genuine opportunity to influence where neighbourhood policing teams should focus their efforts. The survey is available online at www.nottinghamshire.police.uk/whatmatters
The results of the survey are viewed alongside local crime and incident data to enable Nottinghamshire Police’s neighbourhood policing teams to focus on ‘what matters’ to the communities they serve by agreeing designated neighbourhood policing priorities with local partners and elected members.
Once agreed, each area’s priorities are published on the Nottinghamshire Police website alongside monthly updates about the progress that neighbourhood policing teams are making to address each priority.
Anyone who completes the survey will also be given the opportunity to register to receive further updates, alerts and crime prevention advice from Nottinghamshire Police officers in their area using the Neighbourhood Alert email system
