We received some excellent news in January when it was revealed that a new proactive police team will be landing in Gedling.
The team is known as ‘Operation Reacher’ and the Gedling team will be looked after by Sergeant Matt Sisson. Along with Matt there will be six Police Officers working on the team and they will work closely with the existing Neighbourhood Policing Team. I’m sure you will agree that this is a great opportunity for us in that we will be able to better respond to the needs and concerns of our local communities.
The ‘Operation Reacher’ model was first launched in Bestwood and saw some excellent results. Whilst the challenges in Gedling are different I’m sure that the team will make a huge contribution towards dealing with some of the communities concerns such as burglary and drug dealing.
The force has plans to have a Reacher team across each area and I’m really pleased that Gedling was selected to be one of the first.
The team got off to a good start on Wednesday afternoon (29th January) when they assisted with a drugs warrant on Westdale Lane, Mapperley working jointly with the neighbourhood policing team and other resources such as Trading Standards. The team were joined by the local media and Insp Marcus Oldroyd who is now overseeing the development of Reacher across the force. The warrant resulted in a 36 year old male being arrested on suspicion of drugs supply offences following the discovery of drugs and illicit tobacco at a local convenience store.
This was a two tiered approach as following the warrant the neighbourhood policing team and I worked closely with licensing colleagues from the police and Gedling Borough Council. The result was an application for a ‘closure order’ made to Nottingham Magistrates Court on Friday, January 31. I’m pleased to report that the order was supported by the Magistrates and the property will now remain closed and secured for the next three months to prevent further criminal offences and nuisance to the local community.
This really was an excellent result all round and the policing activity came about by information received from members of the public. I really would encourage you to report concerns to us. Information we receive is always carefully assessed and prioritised. In some cases we can act immediately, whilst in other cases the information we receive has to be developed before we can take action. With the Operation Reacher team now working so closely with the Neighbourhood Policing team I’m confident that this will put us in an even better position to take action where required.
The investigation into the drugs supply offences is ongoing and I would encourage anyone with information to contact us.
Following this the Op Reacher team have been working in the Gedling South area which has resulted in further vehicle and drugs seizures. The team will be publishing a lot of their work on our social media pages and I’d encourage you to give these a follow.
On 17th January I met with Gedling Borough Council and police colleagues including PS Helen Walker, PS Mike Ebbins and Cllr David Ellis to discuss our policing priorities for this quarter. Following feedback through our website and Police and Crime Commissioner Surveys these have now been set as Residential Burglary, Drug Supply and Shop theft. We have chosen to look closely at shop theft as we know that the offenders are often linked to other acquisitive crime such as burglary and autocrime. The priorities will be refreshed again in time for April this year. The public surveys indicated that drug use and supply are of significant concern to the local community so we have adopted this as a priority.
I wanted to provide an update regarding Burglary as this continues to be a top priority for us across Gedling.
We have seen late evening and overnight offences with hotspots of Gedling and Carlton in the Gedling South area. Offenders have largely gained entry to properties by smashing windows. Across Gedling North offences have taken place in Woodthorpe and Redhill with windows smashed in order to gain entry. The county burglary team continue to work closely with us in order to investigate the offences. The neighbourhood teams have also worked later into the evening and have been joined by operational support colleagues in order to provide high-visibility patrols in the area.
Pleasingly progress is being made as a number of people have now been arrested and charged with burglary offences over the last couple of months. A 29 year old male was arrested last week on suspicion of a burglary offence in Woodthorpe back in October 2019. He has since been released on police bail but the investigation is very much ongoing.
In terms of other crime vans have been targeted across the area with hotspot locations of Gedling, Mapperley, Colwick and Arnold. Offenders have gained access by damaging locks or bodywork in order to take tools left in vehicles overnight. Patrols are ongoing and local officers will be joining colleagues from Rushcliffe to carry out overnight operations to target offenders.
Crime prevention advice is available on the force website and can be found at www.nottinghamshire.police.uk/advice.
I know that road safety continues to be of concern to many. The Gedling South team are continuing to develop the ‘Community Road Safety’ scheme with PCSO Trevor Parkinson leading on this work. Further training sessions have taken place the team have deployed in both Lambley and Burton Joyce following concerns from the local community. A number of days of action are scheduled this year and as a Gedling team we will be fully supporting these.
Finally I wanted to end by mentioning that we are recruiting ‘Senior Cadets’ within the Carlton area and this is an excellent opportunity for young volunteers who might want to learn more about policing or get involved in communities initiatives. There is information available on our social media or the recruitment pages of our website which can be found at https://www.nottinghamshire.police.uk/volunteer.
