Targeted patrols helping crackdown on antisocial behaviour in Newark

Cops have been out patrolling the streets of Newark as part of continued efforts to crackdown on antisocial behaviour. Whether out on foot or behind the wheel of a squad car, the visible presence of officers in the community can be key to tackling these offences.

Like other policing areas, reducing antisocial behaviour (ASB) ranks among Newark and Sherwood neighbourhood policing team’s top priorities. Despite this, people breaking windows, off-road bikers causing a nuisance, and people shouting abuse in the street are all reports commonly received by the team.

As an example, while out on patrol with beat manager PC Lydia Day, a call is received of groups of young people gathering in Hawtonville, Newark, causing a disturbance.

PC Day then quickly attended the scene in the police van and managed to disperse the group, having visited the hotspot area only minutes earlier during a proactive patrol.

“Carrying out these patrols provides a visible presence in the community and ultimately helps deter this kind of behaviour,” she said.

“On a typical day, our neighbourhood policing team will get called out to a range of different incidents, including ones relating to ASB.

“The kind of incidents we’re generally called out to range from large groups causing a nuisance, through to criminal damage and general threatening or abusive behaviour.

“By going out in the police van and providing that visible presence on the streets, the aim is to stop people from acting in this manner, for the benefit of the wider community.”

Extra patrols aren’t the only tool at the police’s disposal when it comes to combatting this issue, with Newark and Sherwood officers regularly visiting schools to talk to pupils about the impact ASB can have.

On top of these long-term measures, the force also has powers at its disposal to have more of an immediate impact, such as using dispersal orders which allow the police to move people away from certain areas.

A 48-hour dispersal order was put in place last month (February) across parts of the Hawtonville area, after reports were received of young people climbing on shop roofs, throwing stones and causing a general nuisance.

The order allowed the police to return anyone under the age of 16 they found in the affected area during that time back home to their parents, with the move successful in preventing further incidents taking place.

Despite these recent reports, Newark and Sherwood’s District Commander was keen to point out the different forms of ASB that can take place within the community, beyond just incidents involving young people.

Inspector Matt Ward said: “When you think about antisocial behaviour offences, the stereotype is young people getting together and causing a nuisance.

“But there are lots of different kinds of ASB – whether that’s disputes between neighbours, drunk behaviour, people riding round on off- road bikes or revving their cars in the street.

“There is a wide scope for this type of offending, so we do dedicate a lot of our time responding to this by targeting known locations for offending – known as hotspots – during our regular proactive patrols.

“We also have the option of using dispersal orders to manage issues and carry out proactive work as well, such as visiting schools to carry out positive engagement work with children.”

Inspector Ward added:

“Everything we do is aimed at making our communities safer and improving people’s lives.

“We take all reports we receive of this nature extremely seriously – tackling this issue is one of our top policing priorities for Newark and Sherwood.

“ASB can be the precursor to people committing crime, so it’s important that we continue to crackdown on this because of the impact we know it can have on people’s lives.”