A group of Nottinghamshire neighbours and business owners feel they are being 'failed' by police over regular anti-social behaviour incidents in their community. Nottinghamshire Police authorised a 48-hour dispersal order in Hawtonville, Newark, from 6pm Sunday, February 12, after reports of youths swearing, climbing roofs and throwing stones at people and vehicles.
The dispersal order gives officers the power to direct a person who has committed or is likely to commit anti-social behaviour to leave the specified area, and forbids them from returning for two days. Anti-social behaviour is any action that causes a nuisance, harassment, alarm or distress to one or more people.
It can include graffiti, litter, verbal abuse, drug dealing, drinking alcohol in the street, begging and irresponsible dog ownership. The temporary dispersal order covered a patch of Hawtonville between Churchill Drive, Jersey Street, Eton Avenue and Pierson Street.
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Within this area are dozens of houses, as well as the Fryers Club chip shop, Heron Foods and a Lincolnshire Co-op. Fryers Club owner, Sunil Mehta, explained that he had to call the police three times on Sunday after a large group of around 12 children were committing multiple instances of anti-social behaviour.
He said: "There were some kids there between 8 and 12 years old, around 12noon they tried to climb the Co-op's roof and then tried going on to my roof. They come up here and then they try to come into my house as we have a window, and this has happened before but on the Sunday they climbed on to the roof and we could see them from the kitchen.
"We told them they weren't allowed on there and they start swearing and they threw stones." The family called the police and say nothing happened, and around 2pm they had to call the police a third time for assistance.
Mr Mehta said: "They come around ten past two and they do nothing, they just see if there are kids here and then just go back. The kids do whatever they want at the end of the day.
"The kids were at the Co-op and throwing stones at people's cars." He explained that because of all the problems the police returned at 6pm and had to disperse the group and close the Co-op.
Speaking of the dispersal order, Mr Mehta said: "They have a rule for two days and then it's do whatever you want. They need some extra cameras and they need some extra lights.
"The thing is it's the police's fault at the end of the day. The police are failing this area.
"Why don't they send letters from the police to every house here with kids or go into the schools and tell the parents if something is wrong to fix it, we do we have to pay. Before I moved here they broke that window six times in a year."
Inspector Matt Ward, District Commander for Newark and Sherwood, said: “Our officers were called to Jersey Street, Newark, at around 1pm on Sunday (12 February), after receiving reports of young people climbing on shop roofs, throwing stones and causing a general nuisance. As a direct response to this appalling behaviour, we put a dispersal order in place covering between Eton Avenue, Pierson Street, Churchill Drive and Jersey Street, and have thankfully not had any similar reports in the Hawtonville area since.
“The order, which ran for 48 hours until 6pm yesterday (14 February), gave our officers additional powers to move people away from this area and – in the case of under 16s – return them home to their parents. Additional officers will also be deployed to patrol the Hawtonville area over the next few days to stop this happening again, while I’d also add that we won’t hesitate to issue another dispersal order should this be needed."
He continued: “I am under absolutely no illusions about the detrimental impact this offending can have on the surrounding community, which is precisely why tackling antisocial behaviour (ASB) is among our targeted priorities for Newark and Sherwood. This kind of behaviour can really impact people’s quality of life and affect the way they feel about the place they live, which is completely unacceptable.
“I completely understand residents’ frustrations around this but want to get across to them just how seriously we are taking this and how much we’re doing to try and root out ASB from our communities. Anyone who knows anything about the incident in Jersey Street should contact the police on 101, quoting incident 342 of 12 February 2023, while any other concerns can also be reported using the 101 number.”
Residents in the area within the dispersal order are also growing frustrated with the lack of action. Pensioner Michael Wright, 68, said: "Yeah it happens a lot, they have even been spitting on the staff in Herons.
"It's got worse recently, it was bad before but it's just getting worse. They swear at you and they swear at the police."
One resident who did not wish to be named said: "Yeah I do notice a bit, but being here you're kind of in a prime spot with Herons and that over there. You often see them on the Co-op roof.
"We do see the odd police car driving past but I don't know if that's enough." Teacher Nicola Hearn, 44, said: "It's gangs of youths around the shops and at the basketball courts.
"It's quite intimidating when you are walking across there and they are shouting and swearing at you, they can say anything and nobody can do anything. They shout at the staff in the shops too.
"I guess now that the nights are getting a bit shorter it might have an impact, whether that makes it worse or not."
Newark and Sherwood District Council plans to present a range of measures to tackle anti-social behaviour at next week's cabinet meeting. Recommendations being made include working with Nottinghamshire Police on delivering early intervention initiatives in primary schools and the development of mental health first-aid training for relevant officers.
Recommendations are also being made to change how Community Protection Officers (CPOs) operate in order to improve their visibility in the community, taking into account locations and times of their patrols. The District Council is also looking to invest in an additional hybrid vehicle and charging point to increase the presence of CPOs across the district by allowing them to work more flexibly.
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