Gedling borough has a new inspector in charge of Neighbourhood Policing.
Inspector Heather Harding has now taken over the role from Mark Stanley after previously working in Broxtowe borough.
She has been on Nottinghamshire neighbourhood policing teams for a number of years and said she was looking forward to getting to know the local community to understand the issues that are faced across Gedling borough.
The new inspector has now revealed her three quarterly local priorities for the borough, which are as follows:
Tackling anti-social behaviour in Arnold
Inspector Harding said: “Over the last couple of months there has been an increase in anti-social behaviour in the Arnold town centre area. The Gedling central team have been working to address this and have made some good progress with the young people involved.
“There are now youth outreach workers in the area, who are working with the children in diversionary activities. Over the last couple of weeks there has been a decrease in reported incidents, so this is a positive step towards a resolution for the issue.”
Anti-social behaviour in Calverton
The new inspector said: “After an increase in low level anti-social behaviour the Gedling north team have been focussing on the area, being visible, engaging with all the young people they see and ensuring that positive action is taken where offenders have been identified.
“There have been multiple stop searches completed, in which drugs have been found and offenders dealt with. In addition, the team have worked to develop relationships with the local youth centre and have ensured that they are visiting and speaking to the staff and kids using the facilities to send a clear message of acceptable behaviour in the area. This has led to a reduction in reported incidents and some meaningful engagement between the police, community and young people in the area.
Car cruising in Gedling south
“This is something that has been highlighted to police as an ongoing issue for a while,” said Inspector Harding.
“Recently the Gedling south team have been able to dedicate time to be in the area on patrol at the relevant times and have taken positive action when suspects have been identified. In addition, a force wide initiative for car cruising activity is now in place, which means patrol are being carried out in the area even more regularly.
The inspector also talked about the recent dispersal order put in place around Arnold town centre.
She said: “After a few busy days at the end of October, it was anticipated that there may be further problems in the Arnold town centre and so a dispersal order was put in place allowing police to break up groups if necessary. This was in place for 48 hours with multiple positive response, including more than 10 people being taken home, arrests for drugs and firework possession as well as lots of high visibility patrols.
“The feedback I have received is that residents and businesses were reassured by this action. Needless to say it’s something that will be used again as a robust approach if necessary.”
