Bassetlaw Neighbourhood Policing Priorities January - March 2026

As the Neighbourhood Policing Inspector for Bassetlaw, I am pleased to share our policing priorities for the next three months. These priorities are guided by our three core pillars of Neighbourhood Policing:
• Targeted Activity
• Community Engagement
• Problem Solving
We base our priorities on a wide range of information sources, including:
• Feedback from Beat Surgeries and Safer Neighbourhood Groups
• Community surveys via Notts Alert
• Crime statistics and analysis
• Input from the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner
• Partnership feedback and more
Neighbourhood Policing is constantly evolving to meet the needs of our communities. We remain committed to tackling all forms of criminality and anti-social behaviour (ASB) across the district.

Current Priorities
1. Drug related crime in Worksop town centre
Drug supply and use causes significant damage to individuals and communities, contributing to addiction, public disorder, criminal damage, theft, street drinking, and other forms of ASB. Drug supply will always be a priority for me and I will continue to tackle this by enforcement and treatment.
We rely on community intelligence to identify and disrupt drug networks. If we can take a dealer off the streets and secure a conviction, we absolutely will. Our teams also focus on identifying individuals involved in drug use and working with partners to provide support and intervention.
Worksop town centre has been plagued with drug users committing crime and causing fear for those that live, work in and visit our town.
Operation Legacy is our offender management initiative, targeting individuals involved in drug-related criminality and ASB.

2. Rural Crime in East Bassetlaw
Rural crime is often underreported but has a serious impact on our communities. Bassetlaw covers over 250 square miles, and criminals often exploit this, particularly from bordering counties.
Crimes such as damage to fields and crops, theft of vehicles and equipment, and poaching can be devastating to isolated rural communities. We have officers trained in Rural and Wildlife Crime embedded within our Neighbourhood Policing Teams to address these issues effectively.

3. Burglary
We have seen an increase in acquisitive crime offending across Bassetlaw, by both our resident offenders and cross border travelling criminals. Burglary causes misery and distress for victims, and I committed for reducing such offending.
We work closely with our CID and Operational Support colleagues and have a number of upcoming operations targeting offenders.

Issued 01 January 2026

December 2025 Update

At the beginning of October 2025, I set our priorities for the last 3 months of 2025. I considered feedback from the community and partners, and although some great work has been completed in regard to our last quarterly priorities, we still have work to do.
Below provides an update on what we have done throughout December, as well as our plans moving forward.

1. 1. Drug related crime in Worksop town centre
Drugs will always be a priority for me and this is due to the widespread impact, from ASB and offending to feed addiction, to organised criminality leading to exploitation and violence.
In the past few months, we have continued with our work in tackling all of these issues. We are splitting our focus, tackling both users and dealers and furthermore, between enforcement and rehabilitation.
In respect of drug users, we continue to run Operation Legacy, working in partnership to divert entrenched addicts into treatment, thereby reducing crime. We work with Probation, Bassetlaw District Council, drug treatment services and more. We offer our cohort an opportunity to change and seek help. If help is refused and we see no engagement, we continue to prosecute and enforce.
Since June, we have amassed over 10 years of imprisonment for shop theft offences alone. I have read some social media comments around the national response to shop theft being poor and some rumours that we do not prosecute under a certain amount of value. Both of these are certainly not true for Nottinghamshire and in particular Worksop, where we have one of the highest detection rates for shop theft in Nottinghamshire, around 3 times the national average. We will always prosecute for shop theft offences, whether this be £5 or £500, as long as this meets the Public Interest Test as set by the Crown Prosecution Service. I am confident in saying that this is the case for almost every shop theft reported to us.
We have also increased our presence in Worksop town centre and are bettering our working relationship with street wardens to combat ASB, which I know is a concern to those that live work and visit Worksop. I often read about officers not being visible and I want to change this perception – officers in high visibility uniform patrol daily, and many of the arrests made for shop theft are as a result of being in the town centre, proactive policing our busy areas. I am looking at what we can do to further our presence.
Alongside all of this work, also goes our direct enforcement on those that deal drugs and harm our community. We have a number of active investigations which I expect will lead to charges in the coming months and further drugs warrants will be taking place. If you have any information on drug dealing or linked activity, this can be reported to us on 101, email or anonymously through Crimestoppers.

2. Rural Crime in East Bassetlaw
Progress is being made on tackling Rural crime across Rural East Bassetlaw. As we arrive at the new year and the long-awaited spring slowly approaches, this is a vital time for our landowners and farmers, which can quickly turn to disaster unless we tackle criminality in our rural areas.
We continue to run Operation Star, a joint operation with colleagues from Derbyshire, South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire Police, sharing skills, tactics and intelligence in locating and arresting offenders.
In the past few weeks, we have had a number of farms targeted and vehicles stolen, most of which have been recovered by officers. A number of suspects have been identified and one male arrested for vehicle theft offences and bailed whilst enquiries continue.
We have seen issues with illegal off road motorcycles continue, although incidents are reducing due to some excellent work by the Neighbourhood Policing Team, including target hardening, CCTV, seizures and visible patrols. I encourage officers to seize off road bikes, if powers allow, on every occasion.
Wildlife crime continues to be an issue, with a male reported for summons last week after being located hare coursing in the Worksop area. We continue to see poaching in East Bassetlaw and officers are actively out targeting wildlife crime offenders in rural locations. If you have any information such as quad bikes being active at night, poaching, or suspicious behaviour, then please let us know so we can take action.

3. Burglary
Burglary is a disgraceful crime and I have seen firsthand the affect this has on victims. This is why I have set this as a priority, and it will remain so for the first quarter of 2026.
Nottinghamshire Police has a dedicated Burglary team, who are already investigating several incidents on our area, working closely with Worksop CID.
We have started to offer some robust and detailed crime prevention to prevent burglary from taking place in the first place.
For those that do commit burglary, they can expect to be arrested.
In the past few months, I am pleased to report a 32 year old male has been charged with burglary at a Worksop town centre store, a 25 year old male was charged with a dwelling burglary in Bircotes, a 28 year old male charged with a dwelling burglary in Ranskill, a 25 year old male charged with a dwelling burglary in Worksop and a 53 year old male charged with a shed burglary.

Actioned 01 January 2026