Nottinghamshire Police says it is working with key partners to ensure young people are unable to access the roof of the former Debenham’s.
This comes after a small group of young people were able to access the roof on Thursday 22 October, putting themselves in danger.
A closure order on the site has been extended until November 20, which means anyone who breaks into the former building are committing a serious offence.
Those involved in last week’s incident have been identified and their parents and guardians are being visited. Youth Injunctions are also being explored.
Nottinghamshire Police are working with the site owners and Nottingham City Council to ensure the building is better secured.
Chief Inspector Kylie Davies, who manages city centre policing, said:
“We have worked incredibly hard with our partners to ensure empty buildings like the former Debenham’s cannot be accessed.
“They are extremely dangerous. Inside, they are structurally unsound and by scaling the roof you are quite literally putting your life on the line.
“Should you lose your footing and fall, or part of the building breaks, the result will be catastrophic.
“This is certainly not the news we want to be delivering to their parents or guardians. This is why it is vitally important parents have these conversations with their children. They are ultimately responsible for their behaviour.
“Unfortunately, even if we arrest these young people for entering the building, there are very little powers available to us as a police service to ensure they are punished.
“However, we are exploring youth injunctions which are designed to ensure young people have stringent conditions set by the courts which they cannot ignore.
“These can include curfews and not being allowed to enter parts of the city whilst also offering diversionary support to try and change the cycle of behaviour.
“The closure order has certainly limited the activity at Debenham’s and for some time we saw no children or young people attempting to enter the site.
“We have identified further issues and access points which are now being addressed.
“Officers have been in touch with the managing agents and they are looking to further target harden the site, particularly the roof area.
“However, I cannot stress enough how important it is for parents and guardians to have these conversations with their children and explain these risks. We do not want to be reporting that someone has tragically lost their life due to behaviour which is completely avoidable.”
