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Safer neighbourhood officers have explained how they deal with antisocial behaviour by teenagers – following several incidents involving youths in Shirebrook.

Crime and bad behaviour has been reported over the last few months – causing concern among residents and business owners.

One youth was charged with criminal damage worth more than £5,000 and assaulting a police officer following an incident at Bolsover Castle, while another was also charged with assaulting a constable.

Sgt Mark Church and community support officer Evan Mason, from Derbyshire Police’s Shirebrook safer neighbourhood team, have explained how officers are working with Bolsover Council, schools, parents, and in extreme cases, courts, to ensure safety for the community.

Before young people are faced with court proceedings and fines there are several steps officers are taking to try to resolve the issue, following specific procedures. Searganmt Chruch explained that if youth causing issues are under 18, officers first issue an ABC - acceptable behaviour contract – which is a voluntary agreement between a young person and police.

Sgt Church said: “Some young people got charged. Talking about youth, it is quite an extreme measure. The team did a lot of work and a lot of steps have been taken before sending young people to court.

"Our main job as an SNT is to start engaging with people who are upsetting the community and initially try to deal with it by getting these people on board. We don’t get any pleasure in taking the ultimate punishment and criminalising young people. We try to avoid that if possible.”

Before young people face court proceedings and fines, there are several steps officers are taking to try to resolve the issue.

Sgt Church said children aged under-18 are first issued with an acceptable behaviour contract, a voluntary agreement between a young person and police.

Sergeant Mark Church and PCSO Evan Mason from Shirebrook SNT, who are dealing with antisocial behavior daily, have explained how officers are working with the council, schools, parents, and in extreme cases, courts, to ensure safety for local communities.

For adults, officers can also issue a community protection warning. If the CPW is ignored, police can issue a community protection notice and finally a £100 fixed penalty notice. If offenders refuse to pay they can be sent to court.

Sgt Church said: “We are first talking to the children involved in anti-social behaviour, trying to find out who they are and win the trust over.

“However, if they are ignoring these efforts, this is where we need to take it a level up and have meetings with the council and parents, and decide the next steps. We will try to get everyone on board to move them away from the path of anti-social behaviour.

“But if they keep causing problems and we have gone through all the possible warnings and notices, we can then ultimately get to a stage when we have to take someone to court and it might be we are looking into imposing a criminal behaviour order alongside the court charges.

One of the prominent things SNTs are responsible for are high visibility patrols and deterrence. Officers regularly go out to places where antisocial behaviour can be on the rise, including, town centres or leisure centres. They are trying to get as much intel from members of the community as possible. Based on that they can start their enquiries and issue Facebook and social media appeals to gather more information.

"If someone breaks that order, they can face a large fine or up to five years in prison. That’s a very effective way of dealing with anti-social behaviour, but also a last resort as the last thing we want to do.”

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PCSO Mason said: “I find as a PCSO that early intervention and prevention is one of the key aspects to deter potential young offenders.

“One of the most successful things I have seen is early engagement with the schools.

“In Shirebrook, we are running mini police, which is a class where we discuss things like anti-social behaviour and knife crime with pupils. As we give these lessons we also give rewards - children are visited by the drone unit, dog section or speedwatching community.”

One of the prominent things SNTs are responsible for are high-visibility patrols and deterrence.

Officers regularly visit locations of anti-social behaviour, including town centres or leisure centres. They are trying to gather as much intelligence from the community as possible.

Sgt Church said: “SNTs have to work in partnership with our partners including schools or the council. We have meetings with the council every two weeks where we can identify the people causing problems. In some cases, the council might be more aware of anti-social behaviour than we are if it was reported to them. On other occasions, people report incidents to the police and we notify the council.

“If a name keeps coming up and up again in reports we will talk about it in cooperation with our partners and will plan how we can approach it.

“Sometimes people say that in the old days they used to see more officers on the streets, dealing with anti-social behaviour. I can reassure you officers are on the streets, doing patrols, but we have to do a lot smarter things in the background to fight ASB.

“It is not always visible on the streets, but we are working tirelessly to make the community safer.”

'We don't get pleasure in criminalising young people' - say police as they explain how they tackle anti-social behaviour