Ollerton, Edwinstowe, Clipstone & Villages Nottinghamshire Police Police Local Neighbourhood

Operation Vow: Protecting the public in Newark Town Centre

Strategic PriorityThe priority for the area over the next three months will continue to be Operation Vow. Operation vow has been running in the area since October 2018 and as result of this we have identified and disrupted a number of county lines drugs operations that were exploiting vulnerable residents and supplying class A drugs into our communities. One of the individuals arrested as part of our Operation was sentenced last month. Following the execution of a warrant where he was found with controlled drugs, he pleaded guilty to possession of class A with intent to supply and was sentenced to three years and three months. This is a substantial sentence and sends a clear message. County lines is a term used to describe gangs and organised criminal networks involved in exporting illegal drugs into one or more importing areas within the UK, using dedicated mobile phone lines or other form of "deal line". They are likely to exploit children and vulnerable adults to move and store the drugs and money and they will often use coercion, intimidation, violence (including sexual violence) and weapons.There are some signs to look out for: A young person’s involvement in county lines activity often leaves signs. A person might exhibit some of these signs, either as a member or as an associate of a gang dealing drugs. Any sudden changes in a person’s lifestyle should be discussed with them. Some potential indicators of county lines involvement and exploitation are listed below, with those at the top of particular concern:• persistently going missing from school or home and / or being found out-of-area;• unexplained acquisition of money, clothes, or mobile phones• excessive receipt of texts / phone calls and/or having multiple handsets• relationships with controlling / older individuals or groups• leaving home / care without explanation• suspicion of physical assault / unexplained injuries• parental concerns• carrying weapons• significant decline in school results / performance• gang association or isolation from peers or social networks• self-harm or significant changes in emotional well-beingIf you have any concerns that someone you are about is involved in County Lines, please speak with your local Beat team or social care. The county lines operation have been extremely labour intensive and we have sought support from the rest of the force to ensure they receive the appropriate attention and resources. Operation Vow will continue over the coming months, we have some plans in place for both uniformed and plains clothes patrols in the areas. We will continue to work with a multitude of partners to identify and tackle those responsible for drug fuelled acquisitive crime, and also drugs supply. If you have an information please contact us on 101, via social media, directly via the contact page or anonymously to Crimestoppers UK on 0800 555 111. You can also complete an anonymous online report via the Crimestoppers website. As always the caveat stands, this priority is centred around Newark town centre, as that is the area we have identified as needing focus at this time. This does not take-away from any of the other issues and priorities in other areas and our beat team and partners are committed to all communities. You can get updates on the priorities for your areas by speaking to the Beat Manager and keeping up to date via social media. May update: A partnership meeting has been scheduled for the end of May
to agree actions for each partner to contribute to the fight against County
Lines drugs supply. This will include looking at the problem from a housing,
health, education, support and safeguarding perspective. I feel very reassured by
the number of people who are keen to have this conversation and get involved. From a policing perspective, the Neighbourhood Sergeants are
delivering another round of briefings to all officers that work in the area to
ensure they are clear on the developing picture around both county lines
offences and acquisitive crime, this will help keep everyone focused on the
priority. We have recently held an operations planning meeting to
ensure that whilst we remain focused on Operation Vow, it is not at the cost of
daily business, local beat priorities. We must ensure that we have the capacity
to focus on other neighbourhood work as well as this priority. I am pleased to
say we are balancing and moving forward with all our priorities and responsibilities.
June update:The partnership meeting took place at Newark and Sherwood
District Council building and was well attended by a variety of committed
partners. A number of actions have been agreed, mainly around safeguarding, education
and staff training. Prevention is always better than enforcement. One of the objectives of Op Vow was to reduce acquisitive
crime, it’s early days but I am very pleased to report that burglary, year to
date is currently -38.2%.
That’s 66 less burglary victims since April when compared to the same period
last year. This is due to some significant arrests, crime prevention work and
patrols. High visibility patrols have also been stepped up in the area as officers become
free from some of the time consuming conspiracy to supply investigations we
pick up in March. This patrol plan will continue and we are looking forward to
locking up a few more offenders in the near future…….

Operation Vow: Protecting the public in Newark Town Centre

Date: January 2018The priority for the area over the next three months will continue to be Operation Vow. The overall aim of the operation is to identify, disrupt and enforce against drug supply/dealing and drug related behaviour and criminality in Newark Town centre and its surrounding areas. This in turn should contribute to a reduction in acquisitive crime. The operation is structured into four basic layers, comprising:1) Intelligence gathering2) Intelligence review and analysis3) Intelligence development 4) Targeted, intelligence led actions and enforcementAll officers at Newark were individually briefed on the aims and objectives of Op Vow, and proactive activities have been a shared between all departments. Intelligence led enforcement activities targeted towards offending has definitely made an impact in disrupting and unsettling criminality. We have received intelligence to suggested this. Whilst anecdotal information such as this is really important, a new analysis will be completed over the coming months to show the impact of the operation upon crime figures. The intelligence picture has been consistently strong, allowing us to affect search warrants and conduct stop and searches. Warrants have been executed in Hawtonville and Balderton areas with a number of people arrested. Investigations like this can take months to progress to court due to the extensive phone download work that is undertaken to prove the supply offences. We will share the results once the suspects are charged. As well as enforcement action such as this, referrals have been made to partner agencies to help those involved in low level crimes move away from that life style.  A partnership day of action took place on Saturday 1st December and was a huge success from both an enforcement and engagement perspective. This saw a team of officers and a drugs detection dog on patrol. Twelve people were stopped and searched after the drugs dog indicted they may be in possession. Cannabis and cocaine was recovered from some of those searched and the operation was very well received throughout the area, this was filmed as part of the Body Cam Cops documentary series.A review meeting has been held to look at our future planning and ensure we have the resources and process in place to continue moving forward, whilst also maintaining daily business. Proactive patrols and activities will continue to form the heart of Op Vow. Process are in place for the intelligence to be gained and shared with the new Neighbourhood Wardens employed by Newark and Sherwood District Council.If you have an information please contact us on 101, via social media, directly via the contact page or anonymously to Crimestoppers UK on 0800 555 111. You can also complete an anonymous online report via the Crimestoppers website. As always the caveat stands, this priority is centred around Newark town centre, as that is the area we have identified as needing focus at this time. This does not take-away from any of the other issues and priorities in other areas and our beat team and partners are committed to all communities. You can get updates on the priorities for your areas by speaking to the Beat Manager and keeping up to date via social media. February  update:In my last blog I talked about a review
meeting to look at where we are at with Operation Vow. Following on from this I
made a very optimistic, but much needed, bid at force tasking for additional
resources during the National Crime Agencies week of intensification around
County Lines, which took place week commencing 21/01/19. The bid was supported
with a good argument based on extensive research, planning and evidence. My bid
has been agreed, in full. It amounted to additional staff: two intelligence
officers, 4 Sgts, 24 PC’s, Police dog and prisoner processing support. During
the week of intensification tasked officers conducted plain clothes patrols to
build our ever strengthening intelligence picture.  Four warrants were
executed. Four people were arrested for conspiracy to supply controlled drugs,
one of these people has been remanded to court. A quantity of suspected class A
drugs, cash, mobile phones and weapons have been seized as part of the
investigation.‘County lines’ drugs operations involve urban
dealers expanding their crack and heroin business into small town markets,
operating remotely through the use of specific mobile phone numbers. The gangs
then exploit children and vulnerable people as couriers to move drugs and money
between the new market and their urban hub and also around the market towns.
The model means dealers can peddle class A drugs without having to visit their
markets – cutting their risk of being caught.  This keeps the true criminals
behind it detached from the act and less likely to take any responsibility.
These lines are at the very heart of high volume drug supply, and daily
exploitation of vulnerable people. We have been working very hard over the last
six months to disrupt this activity in our areas, investigations are underway
to bring the true offenders, hiding in their urban homes to justice. We have
teamed up with our local partners to ensure the vulnerable adults who are being
exploited, are supported away from this life style. Our investigations and
enforcement work continues.  March Update: Hard work never stops! Investigations
like this can take months to progress to court due to the extensive phone
download work that is undertaken to prove the supply offences. Our officers
have been investigating the existing offences whilst maintaining daily business.
The Sergeants have also been reviewing and developing the intelligence for
further enforcement action.  We will
share the results once the suspects are charged.

Operation Vow: Protecting the public in Newark Town Centre

We regularly monitor local crime trends and through our tasking and performance process we have identified crime increases and made it our priority to tackle that, ensuring Newark continues to be a safe place to work, live and visit.  This priority has also been raised by the local community, elected members and our partner agencies.We have since undertaken extensive analytical work to ensure we correctly identify the issues. As a result we have developed Operation Vow, which aims to solve the problems, long-term.We will be looking to work with partners including the district council and commissioned drug services to develop the operation and problem solve specific issues encountered.Op Vow will include overt and covert police patrols. We have a whole host of tools to use with our partners to battle this problem, from prosecutions for criminal offences, to Criminal Behaviour Orders and reviews over housing tenancy’s for those who have a negative impact on our community. If CBOs are breached, we arrest the perpetrators and place them before the court. Repeat offenders often end-up spending several months in prison where further rehabilitation work can take place. We have been training officers in the use of drug drive screening tests and interrogating mobile phones, to ensure they have the required tools to secure convictions against those to commit serious crimes.Newark has a number of support services available who work to support drug and alcohol users out of addiction and support and protect vulnerable people. We are gathering intelligence around those who prey and exploit the vulnerable by supplying drugs, which in turn can feed acquisitive crime - an offence where the offender derives material gain from the crime, such as shop theft, burglary, robbery, theft.I am pleased that our partners at Newark and Sherwood District Council are employing dedicated wardens to work in the town and look forward to working with them. Op Vow is in the very early days of development and intelligence gathering and any support from the community is greatly appreciated.If you have an information please contact us on 101, via social media, directly via the contact page or anonymously to Crimestoppers UK on 0800 555 111. You can also complete an anonymous online report via the Crimestoppers website. I acknowledge that this priority is centred around Newark town centre, as that is the area we have identified as needing focus at this time. This does not take-away from any of the other issues and priorities in other areas and our beat team and partners are committed to all communities.November Update: As I have previously updated we
are in our intelligence gathering stage. Last week I sat down with the teams
and we looked at the relevant intelligence we have received lately. Some of it
needs further development, and we are putting activity plans together to
specifically respond other bits of intelligence. I can’t go into the details
just yet- we like to give our criminals the element of surprise! I will be able
to report on the outcomes of our actioned intelligence in the next update. We have already disrupted a
drugs supply group, the offender has been in custody, our partners supported a
vulnerable person who was being exploited and the hard job now starts for the
police of gathering all the evidence and securing a prosecution against the
offender. Did you know, the offence of
supplying class A drugs carries a maximum of life imprisonment! Class B supply
(this includes cannabis) carries a maximum of 14 years! Hefty sentences! Do you
or someone you know want to find out more about drug use and the impact, in
confidence? Talk to Frank, Live chat, text, phone, e-mail..... visit https://www.talktofrank.com/ for more
info.December Update: Overt and covert foot and mobile patrols have been undertaken and there are plans in place for this to continue. The intelligence picture around the drugs supply and acquisitive crime (defined as an offence where the offender derives material gain from the crime, such as shoplifting, burglary, theft, and robbery) is now quite strong and allowing us to affect search warrants on property and conduct stop and searches of those we believe involved in this kind of offending. Stop and Search always creates a debate as it is a subject so many feel passionate about, head over to https://www.gov.uk/police-powers-to-stop-and-search-your-rights to keep you informed.