ASB rate continuing to plummet in City North following police action

Stopping off-road bikers and boarding up problem houses are two of the ways ASB is being tackled in the City North.

The Bestwood, Sherwood and Bulwell public have asked for more to be done around antisocial behaviour for some time now.

Neighbourhood officers have responded by doing precisely that – with ASB offences dropping by a massive 43 per cent as a result.

Complaints about noisy neighbours, intimidating behaviour and nuisance bike riders have all gone down, when comparing this financial year so far to the same period 12 months earlier.

The City North and off-road bike teams have worked together on a number of operations to combat the issue of annoying motorcycles and high-performance electric bikes whizzing around neighbourhoods.

Three such bikes have been seized by police in recent weeks, as a direct result of these targeted patrols and the buy-in from local residents in helping officers track down people involved.

Neighbourhood officers have also been working in close partnership with Nottingham City Council to take action against individuals and properties involved in ASB that have been making people’s lives a misery.

A nightmare neighbour who blasted music out at all hours of the day and night was escorted out of his council-owned house in Bulwell by bailiffs last month – thanks to a Possession Order being granted and enforced by the police and council.

The two organisations then teamed up again at the start of this month to secure a closure order against a Bestwood flat that attracted around 100 complaints of ASB and drug-related activity, with the property boarded up for three months as a result.   

These successes have come at a time when the City North team have achieved an overall positive outcome rate of 17 per cent following reports of crime – meaning action being taken in the form of an arrest, charge, or other sanction.

Despite this figure representing one of the highest across the county, the City North’s district commander has promised that his teams won’t let up the pressure in clamping down on crime across their respective areas.          

“As with the majority of policing areas, ASB is an issue that the public has told us they want us to do something about for some time now,” said City North Neighbourhood Inspector Paul Ferguson.

“All of us are residents ourselves, so can completely appreciate how much of a negative impact things like noisy neighbours and inconsiderate or threatening behaviour can have on how people feel about where they live.

“We clearly don’t want this to happen, so carry out a lot of work all year-round, both within our policing teams and alongside our partners like the city council, all with the intention of improving things for our communities.

“That last point has been summed up perfectly by the recent closure and possession orders secured and enforced by ourselves and the council, which will hopefully provide neighbours living within close proximity of these two addresses with some respite.

“It’s pleasing to see reports of ASB continue to fall and our overall positive outcome rate continue to improve, but I want to reassure the public that I’m not complacent with these results and neither are our teams – we know we need to do more.

“Whether they know it or not, the public has a huge role to play in helping us do this, simply by continuing to report crimes to us by calling 101, so that we can respond appropriately.”