Welcome to my update for July. It has been another busy month for the team at Gedling.
Firstly we have seen some staffing changes within the Neighbourhood Policing Team at Arnold. We have said goodbye to PC Dave Jennings
and PC Kulvinder Dosanjh who have both moved on having been temporarily promoted. We have now been joined by PC 1759 James Hague and PC 4560 Allie Batty. All of their contact details are available on our force website under www.nottinghamshire.police.uk/neighbourhoods
We are now into the summer holidays where anti-social behaviour will traditionally increase due to the schools being closed. We have been doing a lot of work around anti-social behaviour in terms of working with
partners to look at diversion opportunities to reduce anti-social behaviour on our streets. Early in July I met with colleagues from Nottinghamshire County Council to discuss youth provision across the county and the Gedling Borough. Our colleagues at Gedling Borough Council have also put together a ‘Youth Summer Programme’ and I’m hopeful that this will help to reduce ASB across Gedling.
In terms of reported anti-social behaviour I know that this
is a key issue for the community and this year (to date) we have seen around 40 less reported ASB incidents which is a -5.2% reduction across the Gedling Borough. It’ll continue to be a priority for us throughout the year. We continue to work closely with partners around ASB including housing providers in the area. In July the Gedling team made two arrests for breaches of civil injunctions which have been imposed by the courts following repeat ASB issues. These include injunctions issued following repeated reports of noise and nuisance behaviour. Our Special Constables will continue to support us with increased ASB patrols over the summer holidays.
On July 15 I went for a ‘walk about’ of Arnold Town Centre along with the Police and Crime Commissioner Paddy Tipping and partners from Gedling Borough Council. We visited the site of the damage caused to the play equipment in Arnot Hill Park before making our way through Arnold
Town Centre to look at the additional CCTV installed on Smithy Crescent. The additional camera was funded by Gedling Borough Council and has had a real impact on the amount of ASB reported in the area. The PCC and I spoke with numerous members of the public and updated them as to our policing activity across Gedling. PC Dosanjh provided an update around ASB in the Town Centre about our work around Knife crime.
The investigation into the arson on the play equipment in Arnot Hill Park is now complete. It’s great to see the park repaired and open in time for the summer holidays. I’m pleased to report that a 17-year-old male has been reported for an offence of Arson and will be appearing in court. A
second 17-year-old male has been issued with a ‘conditional caution’ which
means that he will now be working with the Youth Justice Service in order to prevent reoffending. This has been a great investigation by PC Dosanjh and I’m grateful to everyone who shared our media appeal.
On July 23 I visited a St Albans Parish Council meeting. I provided an update on policing in the area and talked about ‘Operation Reacher’ running nearby in the Bestwood area. We talked about ways that we
could work together to prevent crime and ASB particularly in the Bestwood
Country Park. We also talked about ways that we could share information with the public such as crime trends in order to try and reduce reported offences. I also visited a Calverton community meeting along with the PCC Paddy Tipping and members of the Gedling Neighbourhood team. We talked about working together with volunteers in the area to improve road safety and I provided an update on police activity across the Gedling Borough. It was great to meet with Parish Council colleagues and members of the public and I hope to attend more meetings over the coming months.
I wanted to touch on two of our other local priorities Residential
Burglary and Autocrime.
We have reported an increase in burglary and autocrime in the Woodthorpe area where we saw a number of car key burglaries. It seems that Mercedes cars have been targeted by offenders who have entered properties during the night in order to steal car keys. An excellent investigation has been carried out by a number of resources across the force including our Response teams, Neighbourhood Policing team and the County Burglary team. A 16-year-old male has now been arrested and charged with two car key burglaries in the Woodthorpe area. He has been remanded in custody and a number of other burglaries remain under investigation.
In terms of autocrime we have seen a number of reports of vans being targeted for tools. Most offences have taken place overnight with tools stolen from the rear of vans. I know this has a huge effect on members of
the community who rely on equipment for work. I’d ask that tools are removed from vans, particularly overnight and that any suspicious incidents are reported to the police. There is crime prevention advice available on the Nottinghamshire Police website under Advice and Crime Prevention Guides. The majority of offences have been in the Colwick and Arnold areas. Officers from across the area are patrolling overnight under ‘Operation Kinkle’.
‘Operation Scorpion’ has been continuing across the Gedling Borough. Officers have been carrying out increased patrols across the area with
a focus on reducing violent crime. We know that this is closely linked to
reported anti-social behaviour and patrols will continue throughout the summer.
Finally I met with residents in Ravenshead to discuss updates around road safety. We are continuing to work with volunteers following
reports of speeding vehicles around the Longdale Lane area. PCSO Kirsty Szeluk worked with the volunteers in the area to carry out another session and we were joined by colleagues from Notts Fire and Rescue. Both services are hoping to continue working together in order to promote road safety. We are now discussing expanding this scheme with other volunteers across Gedling Borough.
Please look out for forthcoming engagement events which will
be held by the Gedling Neighbourhood team. Details will be published on our social media pages and where possible these will be advertised in public spaces.
My next update will be at the end of August and for those of
you taking some time off over the summer have a great time.
