Shock at surge in anti-social behaviour in rural villages
ASHFIELD RECORDED HIGHEST RISE ACROSS NOTTS ACCORDING TO NEW POLICE FIGURES
RESIDENTS in a “peaceful” Nottinghamshire village have voiced their surprise after figures showed a dramatic surge in anti-social behaviour reports.
The Ashfield Rural area of Selston, Jacksdale, Underwood and Hucknall recorded a 134 percent rise in reports of incidents over the past year.
This is according to new Nottinghamshire Police data, which revealed that the Ashfield area had the highest growth in anti-social behaviour incidents over the past year.
Data shows that, compared with the previous year, reports of anti-social behaviour rose from 270 to 633 across the villages and Hucknall town centre.
It is the highest rise of anywhere in Nottinghamshire, slightly ahead of Ruddington, in Rushcliffe, where reports increased by
132 percent.
However, people living in Selston village reacted to the news with “surprise”, saying they haven’t experienced more incidents in their area.
John Rawson, 76, was walking towards the Co-op store on Nottingham Road and said he was shocked by the figures.
“It still feels like a nice peaceful village. There’s nothing going on in the area and I can’t think why it’s gone up,” he said. “It doesn’t seem to be a problem, I’m surprised. How many police are even here? You never see any of them walking around. Even with the rise, around 600 incidents isn’t bad across the year.”
But Inspector Mark Dickson, district commander for Ashfield, said that the majority of the increase is down to reporting of Covid legislation breaches, such as people gathering indoors. “During lockdown, people have been staying in their own communities a lot more so that is where more of the incidents have been taking place,” he added.
“Whilst people may see an increase of 134 per cent in Ashfield Rural for example as a big rise, it’s important to remember this is actually just an increase of 363 incidents over an entire year - so about one a day - and most of these relate to us recording offences that would not have been illegal in the previous year.” Janice Fox, 64, was walking towards Underwood with her husband David and said that, even with Covid breaches, she didn’t feel like the area was a “hotspot” for crime. “If a lot of it is down to Covid incidents then the figures are a bit skewed,” she told the Post. “Breaking the rules is a bit different to kids intimidating people on the streets or throwing things around. “From what I’ve experienced that doesn’t even happen much around here; it’s definitely not a hotspot for
it. “Although it is a bit frustrating if loads have been people ignoring lockdown, it’s not that hard to follow.”
Her husband David, 66, added: “I don’t imagine the majority of it will be lockdown-related as that’s quite a lot of incidents.
“You’d hear about it on the streets if it was happening regularly. I think in general more people have had more time on their hands this past year.
“People off work, kids off school, so it was bound to increase but it’s not something I’ve had first-hand experience of.”
During lockdown, people have been staying in their own communities a lot more so that is where more of the incidents have been taking place. Insp Mark Dickson