Extra police officers are being deployed to bolster an ongoing crackdown on anti-social gatherings that have been giving residents sleepless nights.
Nottinghamshire Police stepped up patrols and put a dispersal order in place last week after a number of late-night parties in Lenton and Radford which left families upset.
Now the University of Nottingham has offered short-term funding to pay for 100 hours of police overtime, allowing additional officers to patrol the area over ten days.
Neighbourhood Inspector Amy English, of Nottinghamshire Police, welcomed the boost to the force’s efforts.
She said: “Local officers have been working extremely hard in the Lenton and Radford communities to tackle the disruption and disturbances from a number of parties that have been impacting on the lives of local families.
“We have responded robustly and proactively on each occasion, including introducing a dispersal order giving us extra powers to take action.”We welcome this short-term funding which will allow us to deploy additional officers over a ten-day period.
“In the longer term we will continue to work with local partner agencies to ensure issues like this are prevented from happening in the first place, and also work jointly to tackle issues as they arise to ensure residents don’t have to suffer sleepless nights.”
The extra resources went out for the first time last night (Friday 2 July) and will remain in place until Sunday 11 July.
Registrar at the University of Nottingham Dr Paul Greatrix said he hoped the additional presence would provide reassurance for local residents.
“We know that this has not been the academic year that many of our students were expecting and we have been proud of how the majority have worked hard to make a positive contribution during their time in Nottingham, with many working on the front line in the NHS, at vaccination centres and volunteering to help the communities in which they live,” he said.
“However, we have been deeply disappointed by the behaviour of a small number of our students whose actions have caused stress and disturbance for the residents of Lenton and Radford, many of whom are also students themselves.
“We hope this extra funding for the police will help to provide extra reassurance for residents that we take these issues extremely seriously. In addition to supporting a greater police presence, we have been in constant contact with our students to remind them of the need to be considerate neighbours and that, in addition to any police or court action, we will take disciplinary action against those who breach our Student Code of Conduct, where fines, suspension and exclusion are potential outcomes.
“The university will continue to work closely with police, local authorities and residents’ associations to ensure our students protect and respect the communities of which they are a part.”
The funding comes as part of a wider package of financial support that the university provides to the Nottingham City Council Community Protection services. It commits £30,000 each year to support out-of-hours operations and in 2020-21, it invested an additional £20,000 into the service to increase the number and regularity of patrols In Lenton and Radford to help support local communities while Covid-19 regulations are in force and during UK lockdowns. Nottingham Trent University also contributes funding toward toward Community Protection.
