The fight against antisocial behaviour is being stepped up with the creation of six new posts dedicated to tackling the issue across Nottinghamshire.
The local authority officers are being employed to bolster efforts to crack down on fly-tipping, littering, noise nuisance and other types antisocial behaviour thanks to the Immediate Justice scheme, being led by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Nottinghamshire.
Funding has been made available to local councils across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, based on need, to ensure there is extra resource for council partners to tackle antisocial behaviour.
Two Immediate Justice antisocial behaviour officers will be employed in the Ashfield district, and there will be one in each of Nottingham city, Mansfield and Newark and Sherwood districts, while there will also be one covering the three boroughs of Broxtowe, Gedling and Rushcliffe.
The officers will be able to refer offenders into the Immediate Justice scheme as an out-of-court disposal for their offence.
Recruitment campaigns are currently ongoing to fill these posts and it is hoped they can be out in the community preventing antisocial behaviour in the coming weeks and months.
Nottinghamshire is believed to be the only Immediate Justice area that is providing funding to local councils for Immediate Justice antisocial behaviour officers.
Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner Caroline Henry said: “I am always out and about in our communities so I’ve heard firsthand the distress caused by antisocial behaviour. Funding these new Antisocial Behaviour Officers marks a significant step in our commitment to tackle these issues head-on.
Antisocial behaviour can have a serious impact on communities. Whether it is late-night noise nuisance that disrupts working families’ sleep or criminal damage that leaves people inconvenienced and out of pocket, it is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.
“Police and local councils work together all the time to tackle antisocial behaviour and last year we created an Antisocial Behaviour Taskforce to bring our collaboration closer – sharing information and best practice to better target our resources.
“By making this new funding available to councils, we are able to enhance their ability to respond to antisocial behaviour and refer more people into the Immediate Justice scheme – which will provide the community with really visible reassurance that offenders are being made to pay back the communities they have harmed and are also offered help to break the cycle of offending.”
The Immediate Justice project was launched in Nottinghamshire in January and ensures people who commit antisocial behaviour or low-level offences are made to clean up public spaces or take part in other positive community activities – within days of their offence.
The aim is to show communities in a very visible way that antisocial behaviour is being treated seriously and with urgency, whilst also acting as a deterrent to others.
It is only available to eligible first-time or low-level offenders and gives them an alternative to going to court or paying fines – by spending a set amount of time repairing the harm they have caused to communities.
People referred through the scheme are also offered support to help prevent reoffending, such as referrals for drug or alcohol treatment.
Persistent offenders will still be dealt with through robust criminal justice outcomes.
Nottinghamshire is one of ten ‘trailblazer’ areas across the country to receive funding from the Home Office to implement an Immediate Justice scheme.
The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Nottinghamshire is leading the project, working in partnership with Nottinghamshire Police and each of the local authorities across the city and county.
Offenders who are referred to the scheme are supervised by enforcement service Red Snapper, as they go out to carry out work in neighbourhoods across the city and county.
Cllr John Willmott, Executive Leader Member for Community Safety and Crime Reduction at Ashfield District Council, said: “Our commitment is to a safer and stronger Ashfield, so being able to devote dedicated resource to tackling, and hopefully reversing, antisocial behaviour in our communities will help enormously.
“Over the last two years antisocial behaviour has fallen by more than third but we know the negative impact it can have, especially when persistent behaviour; this directly affects the quality of people’s lives. Our new antisocial behaviour officers will be working to prevent antisocial behaviour using a range of intervention measures, alongside being equipped with the tools to take robust action where necessary.”
Posted on Friday 15th March 2024