Parents told 'control your children or face fines and eviction'

Parents are being warned to control their children or face a criminal record as part of an after-school crackdown on persistent trouble-makers in the centre of Nottingham.

Operation View is targeting boys and and girls as young as 10 following growing concerns about crime and anti-social behaviour.

Police say that includes shoplifting, carrying drugs and weapons, and breaking into abandoned shops and offices to throw missiles from roofs.

A total of 24 children are now on a "watchlist" and officers are using dispersal notices to ban troublemakers from the city centre.

Sgt Cai Kemish, who runs Operation View, said some of the children saw getting arrested as a "badge of honour".

"At its most serious, you have individuals carrying machetes, knives, they're causing a considerable problem," he said.

"When we first arrest them that will have a real big impact with some individuals and that prevents further offending. With others it simply doesn't.

"They like the kudos of having been put in a cell overnight and they can go on social media and tell their friends, that's where the ones we've highlighted for further involvement is key."

Kemish said his team had identified several groups from across Nottingham and West Bridgford who harassed the public and shop workers, and that some saw their behaviour as "pranks".

One department store worker told the BBC that shoppers were being deterred by children "coming in en masse, creating noise and chaos".

A group was arrested after hurling soft drinks and abuse at workers at Tossed, a cafe and takeaway in Albert Street.

Owner Tara Zaman said they targeted the shop several times, "taking things" and "taunting" and "tormenting" her staff.

Officers from Operation View visit those businesses as they patrol on foot and in police vans, into the evening.

They are trying to reassure shoppers and visitors that the city centre is safe, and deter groups of children from coming to town to cause trouble.

Kemish shows us where abandoned buildings have been boarded up after they contacted the owners about children trespassing.

Then a radio message comes through that plain-clothes officers have seen six or seven youths in balaclavas.

The team uses a police van to head to Pelham Street, where the children run off as officers jump out to chase them.

One teenager is caught opposite the Victoria Centre nearby.

As he is handcuffed and his balaclava is removed, he tells officers he is "not sure" what his name is.

Another boy, who says he has just finished school, is handcuffed and searched for drugs.

Back at the van, PC Josh Dowdy detains a 12-year-old boy who is already banned from the city centre and on bail.

"I've worked in the city centre since February and in that time I've probably dealt with him over 15 to 20 times," he said.

"He's been terrorising our city streets, making life a misery for people who visit, walking round in a balaclava, big group, intimidating, stealing from shops.

"I can put money on [the fact that] it's not going to be the last time I'll come into contact with him in the next week."

The 12-year-old is taken home in the back of the police van but his dad is out, so an auntie nearby agrees to look after him.

Officers explain the dispersal notice bans him from the city centre for 48 hours, and say they have confiscated vapes and his balaclava.

Kemish says some families are "shocked" when the police take their children home, and parents are offered support and guidance.

"We took one child home and they were mortified by their child's actions and they took all the electronics, games consoles, mobile phone away from them," he said.

"If the parents are on board, then that is a step in the right direction."

But he says other parents are "less bothered" - and those who refuse to engage are now being threatened with a Community Protection Notice (CPN).

Police say breaching a CPN is a criminal offence with a wide range of consequences, including significant court fines and potentially losing a tenancy.

Nottinghamshire's Police and Crime Commissioner, Gary Godden, says parents need to be responsible for their children and eviction is the "most extreme" sanction.

"We're not going in there with a big stick to start off with, what's fair is that there's a conversation, that conversation leads to action, and the parents buy into that action," he said.

"I would like to see a summer where there's lots of young families exploring the delights that Nottingham city has to offer, and it's also sustained.

"It's about trying to put things in place to engage the young people, and trying to support the families if they need support as well."

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