Police in Arnold are urging local residents to report incidents of anti-social behaviour in the town to officers – and not just post about problems on social media.
The appeal comes after officers revealed they are getting many third-hand reports about an increase in the number of youths gathering in the town’s Market Place and causing problems.
Rather than inform local police teams about the issues, residents are instead raising the issue on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
A spokesman for Gedling’s neighbourhood policing team said: “We are receiving third-hand reports of an increase in youths congregating around the Market Place in the evenings and are contributing to Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) in the area.
“If you do witness any ASB in Arnold Town Centre or any other area in Arnold, please report this to us on 101. We can then deploy officers where resource allows and deal with incidents at the time rather than hearing about it the next day.
They added: “We appreciate that people share issues like this on local Social Media platforms however, if the behaviour of groups in the area is causing alarm or distress, please report it to us – we cannot attempt to do anything about this issue if we do not know about it.”
Didn’t want to know when we had problems the police or Vernon cocker were not interested
It would appear that using 101 is the only real option, as I have sent requests on the Notts Police Gedling Area Facebook page for clarification on several aspects of the law, but have (as yet) not received any response.
Admittedly, the messages were not in connection with anti-social behaviour, but the lack of response indicates that using their Facebook page does not, it seems, produce results.