Derbyshire Police and Crime Commissioner speaks on policing issues

“To say it is in a brilliant place would not be accurate,” Derbyshire’s police and crime commissioner has said after questions over a perceived loss of public trust.

Nicolle Ndiweni-Roberts, Derbyshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, made the comments during an Amber Valley Borough Council meeting this month in which she faced questions from councillors.

The Labour policing chief candidly reiterated that the force faced distinct limitations due to its hamstrung budget, governed by council tax and Home Office funding – set by Labour in central government.

Councillors raised issues that their residents had lobbied them about various issues, including the lack of trust that police will respond when crimes are recorded, leading to fewer people picking up the phone or pursuing the force through other means.

Their concerns focused on speeding, off-road motorbikes causing disruption, anti-social behaviour and drug use.

Ms Ndiweni-Roberts, elected in May 2024, told the meeting: “It is not that people don’t value the police, it is the loss of trust and confidence and that is something that we have to recognise and we need to continue to build on that.

“To say it is in a brilliant place would not be accurate.”

Inspector Matthew Winterbottom said anti-social behaviour in Amber Valley was “quite low” in comparison to other areas of the county, saying it was classed as “medium to low”.

Ms Ndiweni-Roberts said she often had reports of petty thefts including people stealing trolleys and other items from shops, with larger companies having a “no challenge” policy for shoplifters.

She said it was “really distressing” to see the issue on the rise but said detection had at least improved from 12 percent to 33 percent for shoplifters.

Ms Ndiweni-Roberts said face-detection technology was to be rolled out in a bid to increase this further.

Asked about the lack of a police station in Belper, Mr Winterbottom said that the force had to move out of its facility in Babington Hospital due to its closure and sale on the open market, saying this was “not a police decision”.

He said the force was still looking for a new permanent base in the town as a “priority” but its efforts had so far been fruitless due to the lack of a suitable building.

To date, officers had been having respite breaks in the library and making use of a mobile police station, he said.

When facing questions about off-road motorbike riders causing distress in various communities, Mr Winterbottom said the force was aware of a particular hotspot around Shipley Country Park.

He said the force was now deploying drones to help track and chase down offenders and said many were driving into the site from Nottinghamshire, with a police aim to catch them before they reached the park.

Mr Winterbottom said methods of catching motorbike-riding suspects were “quite limited”, saying “they don’t want to be caught” but said the force was now being “bold” and following up more leads.

Ms Ndiweni-Roberts said: “I really welcome the first tranche of 20 new police officers, but we are looking forward to having more.

“It is challenging, I can’t make out that it isn’t. We are trying our best with the budget with which we are afforded.”

Mr Winterbottom said in Amber Valley that 187 stop searches had been carried out, up from 95 last year, and officers had carried out 15 warrants for high value, high harm crimes, in which police retrieved £100,000 in cash and £2.6 million worth of drugs, and 21 prohibited weapons including six tasers and four swords.

Asked about speeding on housing estates around Belper, Ms Ndiweni-Roberts said: “Speeding is taken very seriously. I wish we had enough officers everywhere but we are trying to do the best we can with what we have.”

She said a mobile speed camera trial was taking place in Derby and could be rolled out elsewhere in the county if successful and viable.

Ms Ndiweni-Roberts said: “I want to be honest about the resources we have. If we could do these interventions everywhere, we would. We have to look at the highest threat, the highest risk when we have limited resources.”

She said a quirk of some areas in the county was the lack of safe parking spots for police to position a mobile police camera van, with the force needing to liaise with Derbyshire County Council to build safe parking spots.

Ms Ndiweni-Roberts discussed a need to intervene with young people committing low-level crimes saying “we do not have to criminalise young people if we get in their early”, referring to immediate justice, a programme of community service through which offenders make amends instead of receiving a criminal record.