Hello and welcome to my latest blog.

I thought I’d bring you all up to date about what’s been going on recently and what our plans are going forward. 

With the school summer holidays fast approaching, tackling antisocial behaviour (ASB) remains one of our current policing priorities for the Newark area, although we will also be focusing on other areas too, as I’ll mention shortly. 

One of our priorities for the Newark and Sherwood district is retail crime, which we know, is an issue felt not just locally but across forces nationwide as well. An approach regularly used by our neighbourhood team to counteract these offences is targeting prolific offenders we know are responsible for the majority of the shoplifting reports we receive. 

We’ve had some really good successes, based on this, with the team having a 59% detection rate when it comes to shop theft incidents, which is actually more than double the rate for all crime types we deal with. In addition to identifying and taking action against shoplifters, which we do by working closely with local stores and conducting hotspot patrols, we’ve also focused on stopping abuse and violence against shopworkers inside stores.

As part of this, we recently took part in ShopKind campaign week, which aimed to raise awareness of these issues, while highlighting that this behaviour isn’t okay and will lead to police action. Our officers were joined by representatives from charity Remedi during their patrols in Newark town centre, where they spoke with various market stallholders and businesses to offer their support, while providing a very visible crime deterrent. 

Providing this dedicated presence in the town centre hasn’t been something we’ve limited to the day, however, with patrols also stepped up recently on Friday and Saturday nights, to support the night-time economy – another one of our local priorities. We introduced this priority following a violent incident in Castle Gate at the end of April that tragically resulted in a man losing his life. As part of our ongoing efforts to crackdown on crime during this time-period, we regularly check in with pub landlords and are actively supporting door staff, where necessary, to make people feel safe. 

We are aware of local concerns regarding feelings of safety in the town, which is precisely why we also made the decision to select street level crime and ASB as a further area to focus on in the Newark area. With increased reports of street drinkers, drugs, e-scooters, and groups of people committing public order offenders or causing a general nuisance, our officers have tried to be as visible as possible in the town and wider community, with the purpose of deterring offending. We are working closely with Newark and Sherwood District Council to focus on problem solving, specifically as part of safer streets during the summer – a time where, as I mentioned above, tends to be when we experience more reports of ASB. As such, we’ll be stepping up patrols, which remain one of the more effective tools in our arsenal in terms of detecting and responding to offending. 

One issue I’d also like to address in this blog is around the antisocial and dangerous use of horse and traps, following a road traffic collision earlier this month. We’ve received numerous complaints about this, so I’d like to confirm that an investigation into the collision is ongoing, and we have made an arrest. Where we have evidence of offences we will always investigate, although its important people realise the horse and traps themselves aren’t illegal. I’d therefore appeal to those who do partake to do so in a safe and responsible way. 

Finally, I’d like to highlight the fantastic efforts of three members of my team, who recently combined to great effect to arrest a suspect, while saving him from drowning in the process. PC John Chappell was on patrol on 17 July when he spotted a suspect in a robbery and two shop thefts, so chased after him on foot. A short time later, the same man was seen to jump into the River Trent, despite not actually being able to swim. Realising this, PC Chappell took immediate action and – supported by PC Bryn Hope and PCSO Stuart Hicks – bravely dove into the river to save the man as his head was sinking below the surface, before then managing to get him to safety – and make the arrest. PC Chappell deserved enormous credit for the tenacity and bravery he showed during this incident, while PC Hope and PCSO Hicks both acquitted themselves well and played a crucial role in helping the man too. Their actions perfectly exemplified what I’d want from my officers and we’re all very proud of all three of them and grateful for the role they play day-to-day keeping people in Newark safe. 

Our neighbourhood team will be undertaking a range of engagement activities across the summer months, which will be advertised in due course, so please look out for details on Notts Alerts!