Update on policing in Mansfield from Inspector Katie Eustace - September 2025

Hello and welcome to this latest update from your neighbourhood policing team.

As part of my role as your Neighbourhood Inspector, I regularly meet with key local partners to discuss policing in the district and identify any issues of concern.

What follows is a brief summary about what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and the impact we are having across our communities.

Current priorities in your area

Our local policing priories at set in consultation with the wider community and have remained unchanged over the last six months now. They are:

• Shop theft

• Drug dealing

• Anti-social vehicle use

Actions on our priorities

Anti-social vehicle use

This issue continues to cause concern for residents and businesses alike.

From off-road motorcyclists to so-called ‘boy racers’ in modified cars, we continue to clamp down on those causing a nuisance and putting others in danger.

So, let’s start with our boy racers – a group that actually includes a fair number of young women as well.

Whilst in principle I have no problem with showing off their cars to likeminded enthusiasts, I do have a very big problem when other road users are put in danger, and when noise reaches unacceptable levels.

That’s why we’ve put in place repeat operations at Asda Forest Town and at nearby Fulmar Close – locations that were flagged to us by the local community.

This is a residential area popular with young families who are understandably concerned by what’s been happening.

As a result of our recent activities, two vehicles were seized and several Section 59 notices have been issued.

In plain English a Section 59 is a legal warning that grants us the power to seize vehicles being used in an antisocial way.

This is a really effective tool for us when dealing with this group because it provides such a powerful incentive for drivers to stay on the right side of the law. Because if they don’t they will lose their vehicles – and all the money they have tied up in them.

I have also issued a Section 35 in this area – a dispersal order giving us power to break up meetings and move people on if they are causing a nuisance.

Similar action is being taken to tackle off-road bikers on the Desert and the former Pleasley Pit site, where walkers, horse riders and dog walkers are all at risk from people riding illegally.

Ultimately this has to be a team effort with the wider community, so I implore everyone who is concerned by this issue to get in touch and tell us what’s happening near them.

We will listen and we will take action.

Shop theft

I am happy to report that Mansfield continues to standout for its sustained fall in shoplifting offences – currently more than 30% year on year.

A big part of that fall is down to the relentless targeting of the small number of repeat offenders who we know commit the most offences – mostly to fund their addiction to drugs and alcohol.

To put it bluntly, if these people are in prison, then they aren’t out stealing from local businesses, upsetting our retail workers and generally causing damage to our town.

The 11 Community Behaviour Orders (CBOs) we currently have in place against our most prolific offenders allow us to ban people from certain locations and (crucially) return them to prison almost immediately for breaching a court order.

Our positive outcome rate is also very good, with 32 per cent of offences resulting in a charge, fixed penalty notice or other resolution.

In reality the actual number will be even higher than this because it isn’t always possible to convict a known offender for all the offences we know they have committed.

For example, if we know an offender has committed ten offences but the CPS will only charge for seven, it is not a sensible use of our time to further investigate offences that wouldn’t affect the overall length of sentence.

Whilst I have every sympathy for people with those very complex problems and am always willing to do what I can to help them change their lives for the better, the job of the police is ultimately to tackle crime and protect the public, so we’ll be continuing with this proactive and uncompromising approach for the foreseeable future.

Drug dealing

With so many of our offences linked in one way or another to illegal drugs, we have continued to focus on those individuals blighting our communities with illegal substances.

After consultation with local partners, we’ve increased patrols (uniformed and plain clothed) around the Beacon Project, Salvation Army and the Arena Church, where we know local dealers have been operating.

We’ve also amended our shift patterns to get officers out earlier in the morning, when we know that members of the homeless community are being targeted by dealers – many of them spending money they have made by stealing from local businesses.

We are also developing a number of search warrants at local addresses to target those producing illegal substances like cannabis or exploiting vulnerable people.

Again, this really is a team effort so please keep that information coming in to the team. We will evaluate it and act on it when we can.

Did you hear about this?

I also wanted to mention some excellent work by officers to tackle antisocial behaviour in and around the town – firstly in relation to a repeat offender by the name of Alan Smith, who has been causing regular issues with his drunken and disorderly behaviour.

A lot of work recently went in to securing a Community Protection Order against him at court – an order he breached at the beginning of September and was subsequently jailed for five months.

We’ve also secured a closure order against a property in Ladybrook which had become a hotspot for disorder.

People living nearby reported feeling anxious, intimidated, and unable to enjoy their homes in peace as a result.

The Closure Order – secured in court after (again) a huge amount of work by local officers – prohibits anyone from entering the address for a period of three months and gives the landlord time to evict the current occupant and relet the property.

Everyone should feel safe and secure in their own homes, so if they don’t we want to hear from them.

Keeping you informed

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How to contact us

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• a serious offence is in progress or has just been committed

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• a serious disruption to the public is likely

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