The leader of the council covering Beeston says "patience is at an end" with anti-social behaviour in the town as police report a significant reduction in incidents. Nottinghamshire Police has been working alongside partners including Broxtowe Borough Council to crack down on Beeston's anti-social behaviour issues.
Dubbed Operation Potassium, the force's dedicated project on reducing Beeston's anti-social behaviour launched on October 31. It came after incidents including egg throwing, criminal damage and stones being thrown at houses, with some incidents involving children as young as nine.
Nottinghamshire Police says that since the operation was launched, incidents have reduced by 31 percent. Describing the problems in Beeston, Broxtowe Borough Council's Labour leader, Milan Radulovic, said: "You've got whole gangs of young kids who watch one episode of Gangs of London and think they rule the roost.
"We've all been young and we all gathered together and made friendships, but we had noticed a big increase in that anti-social behaviour and it needs cracking down. It's not helped by the continued closure of sports clubs and children's centres.
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"But you can't just take part of the law and order issue in isolation, it has to be looked at as a whole and we have to make some very tough decisions. Where does rehabilitation end and where does punishment start? There are some people who will not accept their responsibility and who say it is everybody else's fault."
Beeston town centre and the area's tram stops were among the particular areas of concern. Nottinghamshire Live spent time in the town on Friday, December 23, and people were divided on whether anti-social behaviour was still a blight on the area.
Ron Button, 79, of nearby Lenton Abbey, said: "I've not seen any problems recently really. I do see a lot of groups of young people hanging around but they're not really do anything anti-social.
"I remember that we had the same problem when we were younger, just hanging around not doing anything but having people moan about us. Even on the trams I haven't seen anything myself."
But one shop worker in Beeston, who did not want to be named, said: "I wouldn't say things have been getting better. It was recently when a young person grabbed one of my colleagues in the store.
"It's always young people and some of them get a bit bolshy. They've been in the shop stealing things and all sorts."
Another couple, who did not want to be named, said: "We're still hearing about a lot of trouble at the moment. We don't come out in an evening that often, we're just on our way to a Panthers game tonight, so we don't see too much but we have done before.
"You see a lot of young people causing problems on the trams, getting on and off without paying and things like that. Some of them are as young as 10 or 11 as well and you just wonder where the parents are."
But De Mather, 91, also of Lenton Abbey, added: "I think it used to be a lot worse to be honest years ago. You do hear about things but I would say it has been getting better recently."
But as well as the broader anti-social behaviour problems, Councillor Radulovic said another particular issue was some council house tenants. he said: "The council tries to help the situation because we've got a housing crisis. We are struggling to house families, we've got families in bed and breakfasts at the moment. Yet we have some tenants whose behaviour is totally unacceptable and patience is at an end with these people.
"I'm afraid that it's now applying to the courts and it's eviction time. We try to work with all groups and organisations and we all have problems in different ways.
"But there are some people who think they can do what they like, when they like. We have to understand that the freedoms that we have in this country come with a responsibility.
"If your freedom then starts to impact upon the quality of life of other people then that becomes a problem for us. We've done our absolute level best to work with people but at the end of the day if they refuse to participate, then they leave us no alternative."
When Nottinghamshrie Live was in Beeston on December 23, the town was relatively quiet given that it was the last Friday before Christmas. There were many groups of young people in the town but as some of those we spoke to noted, none of them were doing anything anti-social.
But Nottinghamshire Police says that its own action on the issue has made a difference, with work including high-visibility patrols. Neighbourhood Inspector Mike Ebbins, said: "We have acknowledged the concerns raised by businesses and residents and applied a no-nonsense approach. At its peak in summer, we had over 200 incidents of anti-social behaviour related nuisance in our hotspot locations.
"Everything from young people boarding the tram without paying, abusing customers, using threatening and intimidating behaviour and making life unbearable for some of the businesses and residents around our town centre. But having high-visibility patrols in our hotspot areas have seen incidents fall by 31 percent.
"NET have told us that they are not seeing the same level of anti-social behaviour on the trams since the operation launched in Beeston and Chilwell. We don't want this behaviour in Beeston. We want to send out a strong warning that we are watching their every move and it makes sense to either behave or leave the area."
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