‘We don’t feel safe on our street at night’
RESIDENTS’ FEARS OVER ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
RESIDENTS on a Radford street say they don’t feel safe walking around the area at night because of repeated antisocial behaviour.
Redoubt Street is just off Ilkeston Road and has a Tesco Express.
There were 26 incidents reported to police in April, making it the area in Radford with the most trouble recorded.
Sixteen of these reports were for antisocial behaviour, while another four were for criminal damage and arson and one was drug-related – although some incidents may have been reported more than once.
For some people who live nearby, the problems have meant they feel uneasy walking around at night.
One resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “It does get quite scary sometimes.
“I have had people banging on my door quite late at night and you often see people hanging around in the early hours of the morning.
“I try not to walk around by myself when it’s dark.
“There are some pretty nasty things written on one of the houses around here as well and a few other places have been graffitied.
“It’s important to remember, though, that the majority of people who live here are absolutely lovely and don’t cause any problems. It’s always easy to focus on the troublemakers.”
“There are definitely problems around here,” said another resident.
“Since I’ve been here I’ve seen fights, drug dealing – a lot of different things to be honest with you.
“But then I think you get that in most places. You get some people hanging around the shop on the corner. I try to just keep myself to myself, to be honest.
“But I’m not surprised there have been quite a few things reported to the police. I do see them on patrol quite a lot, which is good.”
Anti-social behaviour is by far the most common crime reported in Radford, according to Police UK data.
There were 2,112 reports of antisocial behaviour in the most recent seven-day period, with the next common being violent and sexual offences, for which there were 782 reports.
But while there have been some problems for residents in Redoubt Street, others emphasised that it’s still an area they are happy to call home.
Salem Berhanu, who has lived in Bramcote Walk – which adjoins Redoubt Street – for five years, said: “I’ve never reported anything while I’ve been here.
“I’m not aware of that many problems, to be honest. It’s all right around here. I’ve not had any problems since moving in.”
Chief Inspector Alan Pearson, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “Taking statistics on their own to give an overview of an area can often be misleading, as we know the same incident can be recorded more than once if reported by different people, so we need to be careful in how this is portrayed so as not to ramp up the fear of crime unnecessarily.
“In terms of this area, to reassure residents we regularly meet with partners to discuss issues such as anti-social behaviour and where the hotspot areas are for this. Redoubt Street has not been raised as being of particular concern or a hotspot area when it comes to this type of crime.
“However, if locals are seeing issues with this, we would urge them to get in touch and report this to us. We are committed as local teams to listening to those in the area and acting on the issues they tell us matter to them.
“We understand the impact antisocial behaviour can have on communities and we are dedicated to tackling this wherever it may be the case. Anyone found to be involved in anti-social behaviour will be appropriately dealt with from both a criminal and civil angle.”