Foot patrols and town centre base helping tackle crime in Newark

Foot patrols and town centre base helping tackle crime in Newark

A beat team have made a flurry of arrests after carrying out extra foot patrols around Newark from their new base in the town centre.

PC John Chappell and his team have found themselves in the right place at the right time to take positive action on multiple occasions over the last few weeks.

By being out and about doing proactive patrols on the streets, the town centre beat manager has himself spotted and detained a number of suspects linked to a range of outstanding offences.

Officers have been able to provide this extra presence on the streets and get to incidents quicker than before, thanks to the town hall in the Market Square being made available for police to base themselves at.

This space has kindly been made available for Nottinghamshire Police to use by Newark Town Council, which owns the building, with this move helping officers provide more of a presence in the area and make a number of recent arrests.

The latest example took place on 2 September when Andrew Woolley, who was wanted for assaulting a security guard and stealing from a shop on 18 August, was spotted by beat team PCSO Pete Rodda during a walk around the town centre.

PC Chappell then quickly moved to that location and arrested Woolley, 35, of no fixed address, who went on to be sentenced to 20 weeks in prison, suspended for a year, after pleading guilty to charges of assault and theft.

The officer’s actions while out on patrol in Newark also resulted in him detaining two further suspects who were later charged, starting with a robbery on 13 August when a woman in her 70s fractured her wrist after being knocked over while having her handbag snatched.

Suspect Gavin Woodcock, 38, would go on to be arrested by PC Chappell for the offence in the town centre two days later (15 August) having been spotted by an off duty officer who called the neighbourhood policing team.

Woodcock, of no fixed address, would go on to be charged with robbery, inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent, fraud by false representation and two shop thefts. He is next due to appear at Nottingham Crown Court on Wednesday (13 September).

Suspect Daniel Richens was also spotted by PC Chappell while out on foot patrol on 23 August, after being linked to two outstanding offences from 19 August, and was ultimately charged with attempting to cause grievous bodily harm and for breaching a restraining order.

The 34-year-old, of no fixed address, will appear at Nottingham Crown Court on 28 September.

A further incident also saw PC Chappell spot and arrest a suspect in Newark on 16 August who was wanted on recall to prison – just 10 minutes after the recall had come through.

Following a series of good results for PC Chappell and the town centre beat team, Newark and Sherwood District Commander Inspector Charlotte Ellam was quick to praise the officers for their awareness while out on patrol.

She also expressed her hope that having the option of basing officers from the town centre would help provide more of a presence on the streets to help deter offending, including antisocial behaviour (ASB).

Inspector Ellam said: "We're really pleased to see the positive impact the town centre beat team are having in helping deter people from committing crime and responding quickly to incidents as they develop.

"This has been perfectly exemplified by the actions of PC Chappell, who has repeatedly shown fantastic vigilance along with the rest of his team to be there at the right time to make a number of recent arrests.

"By being out on the streets and carrying out these proactive foot patrols, PC Chappell and his fellow officers were able to spot these situations as they developed, while also providing a visible police presence on the streets in the process.

"Having this extra location within the market square for our officers to base themselves at is really important in allowing us to do more of these foot patrols to help tackle offending, including ASB, which we know is something our residents want us to focus on.

"We're delighted to now have this option available to us in the town centre and would like to thank our partners at Newark Town Council for allowing us to access this space."

Councillor Neil Ross, Leader of Newark Town Council, said: "In the last few weeks, Newark Town Council has started to provide office space on the ground floor of the Town Hall to Nottinghamshire Police. This has enabled the police to maintain a presence right in the centre of Newark.

"I am pleased to report that this has been a successful initiative, allowing police to intervene quickly and effectively against crime and antisocial behaviour in the town centre.

"It is vital that we give the police our full support. We will always do this, and we will continue to work closely together, as a team, to make Newark a safer place.

"This partnership is based on an ongoing commitment from all members and political groups within our council to bring people together, to support our police officers, and to make our town a safe and welcoming place. It is important that this commitment continues. This is a great town. Let's come together and look after it."

Councillor Paul Taylor, Portfolio Holder for Public Protection and Community Relations at Newark and Sherwood District Council, added: “Partnership working is vital when it comes to tackling crime and antisocial behaviour, and it is encouraging to see investments such as this already paying off.

"The office base, where the District Council funded essentials to get it up and running, is allowing police officers and our Community Protection Officers to respond to town centre incidents more efficiently and effectively. We will continue to make investments into the safety of our district and I hope this is a message to all offenders that we are out there and we are cracking down on crime and ASB.”