A supermarket in a Nottinghamshire town centre is having ongoing problems with youths committing crimes. The Morrisons store on King's Road, Newark, has been experiencing issues with young people throwing items at members of staff and intimidating customers.
It has also been reported that groups of children are entering the store and stealing items from the shelves, such as vapes. Nottinghamshire Police officers have been called to the store multiple times to deal with the crimes.
Inspector Charlotte Ellam, District Commander for Newark and Sherwood, said: "The Neighbourhood Policing Team is aware of reports in recent weeks of a group of young people congregating and causing a nuisance in the vicinity of Morrisons, Kings Road, in Newark, and the surrounding streets. This behaviour has included throwing items at staff in Morrisons, causing excessive noise, banging on doors and intimidating members of the public going about their business.
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"Clearly, this is completely unacceptable and is the kind of behaviour which, working with our partners, we're looking to eradicate from our communities. Reducing anti-social behaviour in Newark and Sherwood is one of our longstanding priorities.
"Our teams use various means, including increased patrols in hot-spot areas and dispersal orders, to tackle this issue and we are always identifying and applying new initiatives to tackle anti-social behaviour of all types. In response to this specific issue we have stepped up patrols, and are working with colleagues from Newark and Sherwood District Council to identify those involved and take appropriate action."
Inspector Ellam added: "Our officers regularly visit schools to speak to children about the impact anti-social behaviour can have on people's lives, with the aim of educating at an early age to make long-term change. We do take these reports extremely seriously but would ask that anyone reporting anti-social behaviour always contacts the police on 101, as opposed to calling 999, which should only be dialled in a genuine emergency."
Speaking about the store's problems, a Morrisons spokesperson said: "Our stores should be safe places to work and shop - as such we adopt a zero tolerance policy to any sort of anti-social behaviour. This matter is now in the hands of the police."
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