A plan, put in place by officers in Long Eaton, to try and cut the number of anti-social behaviour incidents involving a teenage boy has been hailed a success.
The local community had been suffering from a spate of anti-social behaviour between the end of January and the start of March 2023 centred around the Petersham Estate.
It was thought many of the reports involved the behaviour of a 14-year-old boy who was targeting various members of the community.
In all, the teenager had been linked to 15 incidents of anti-social behaviour in just five weeks, leading to officers from Long Eaton Safer Neighbourhood Team putting in a place a Problem Management Plan with the aim of trying to reduce those occurrences.
The plan, which included working with partner agencies and the boy’s father, involved increasing the number of officers and PSCOs in the areas targeted by the teenager at the times he would most likely be there.
Officers, along with social care, also identified activities and extra-curricular programmes for the teenager to divert him from committing anti-social behaviour. Social care also worked with the boy’s family to identify any help he required to steer him away from committing the types of incidents he had in the past.
As a result, the plan has been deemed a success as it saw the number of anti-social incidents around the Petersham Estate reduced to zero since it was put in place in March 2023.
PC Calvin Taylor, from Long Eaton Safer Neighbourhood Team said: “It would have been very easy for us to deal with the type of incidents the teenager committed by simply arresting him and putting him through the legal system.
“However, we felt that wasn’t the best way this could be dealt with and, with the help of his family and partner agencies, a Problem Management Plan was deemed to be the right way forward in reducing his level of offending while, at the same time, getting him the support he needed.
“As a team we have been delighted with how successful this plan has been and how the teenager has engaged with us throughout. To see the number of incidents not only reduce by half but go even further than that to a level where we didn’t have a single report of anti-social behaviour in the past month is fantastic for us, the boy himself and the local community.”