Call for police to spend more on Ashfield after sharp increase in crimes

Councillor Jason Zadrozny, Ashfield District Council leader, has called on Paddy Tipping, Nottinghamshire police and crime commissioner, to offer “more support” to Ashfield after

Nottinghamshire Police raised their council tax precept earlier this year.

Notts County Council spends thousands on new app and no one knows when it will be finishedIt comes as crime figures in the council’s “community partnership” plan alongside the police suggested cases of robbery increased by 124.56 per cent in the year to September 2018, while theft cases rose by 89.29 per cent.

Coun Zadrozny called on Mr Tipping to “stop failing residents” and provide “more funding for Ashfield, rather than giving everything to Nottingham city centre”.

He said: “We need to address the relationship between the council and senior figures at the police, and properly challenge them to protect the people in Ashfield.

“The police on the ground in Ashfield are brilliant and do what they can, but senior management is letting us down.

“There’s been an overall crime increase of 17 per cent here and it isn’t good enough.

“We have about 10 community protection officers who are stretched to the bone, because 101 calls are just not getting answered.

“We found that more than 70,000 calls to the 101 number went unanswered across Nottinghamshire and people are losing confidence that the police will come at all.

“I went into McDonald’s in Nottingham city centre not long ago and the amount of officers in there was astounding – it looked like the lunch room at the police station.

“However, in Ashfield we get police stations being closed down, as Mr Tipping thinks its more important that police officers are seen on the streets.

“If the people in our district are not feeling safe, this is not good enough.

“Council tax has gone up, so the police need to put their money where their mouth is.”

Young woman out jogging left 'distressed' after being approached by man in 60s with 'teeth missing'Paddy Tipping, Nottinghamshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, said: “Force performance figures to the end of May this year show that crime nationally is up by around seven per cent, across the force area it is up by eight point five per cent, yet Ashfield is bucking the trend with the considerably lower figure of four point nine per cent.

“I’m also pleased to note that there has been a 24 percent reduction in the number of burglaries in the area. Similarly, vehicle crime is down by 27.5 per cent; criminal damage and antisocial behaviour are down by eight point six per cent and nearly 11 per cent respectively.

"There has been an increase in robbery, around 40 more offences, but we have created a dedicated robbery team which is focused on tackling this problem. We are recruiting more officers this year which will help to boost the robbery team and there are already extra resources in Ashfield, like all parts of the county.

"As these crime figures show, the extra officers in the area, alongside new ways of working, are delivering results.”