Residents in rural Nottinghamshire villages encouraged to report crimes

Speaking at a "beat walk" in Bilsthorpe with Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner Paddy Tipping, Sergeant Tony Hall of Sherwood encouraged residents to report all crimes to help the force "build an intelligence picture" of their area.

Sgt. Hall said that, without crimes being reported, it means they cannot paint the picture or have an understanding of crimes in rural areas, and said the force "try as hard as possible" to have a "visible presence" across the district.

He said: We always encourage the community to come forward with any concerns they do have in the area and to report crime, because this allows us to build an intelligence picture of what is happening in their area.

"If people don't report it makes it difficult for us to paint a picture, but at the moment the Bilsthorpe area has been particularly okay.

"We've seen a lot of off-road bikes blighting the area and we've launched Operation Jericho to tackle this, but at the minute it isn't serious.

"It's a big area across Sherwood, and I've only got a number of staff to get across that area which means it can be challenging to show a regular and visible presence.

"This is a constant battle for us because we want to be visible, but when you look at the treat, risk and harm of what is being reported compared to what the community want us to do, it is a very difficult balancing act.

Sgt. Hall and Mr Tipping were joined by parish councillors, Coun Paula Pestell and Coun Mel Ward, on the walk about with neighbourhood inspector Heather Sutton.

Coun Pestell said: "I think the problem we've got is that people see crime, but they don't report it. And until they start reporting it, it's a double-edged sword because it will never get solved.

"It needs reporting and we're trying to get people's minds thinking that way within the community, and hopefully this will mean more police presence in the area.

"I think we all realise that the police are very stretched in their job, and it's a very thankless task that they provide.

"They can't be all over the place and they can only act on what they've got, and until they've got the quality of information they can be doing jobs in other areas that they think are more prevalent."

Mr Tipping added: "We are increasing the number of police officers, and I will be talking with the neighbourhood inspector about what Bilsthorpe can expect in terms of extra officers.

"These are starting to arrive but as you would expect it often takes a while before people are fully equipped, but we have got 2,024 officers now - more than when I came in, and all being well we should have even more in the coming years."