Big effort to make historic park safe

POLICE and the city council have vowed to force violent thugs out of Derby's most historic public park.

A two-pronged campaign against the yobs has been launched in response to a spate of attacks.

Police will use head-mounted cameras to gather evidence against thugs intimidating visitors to the Arboretum. And the city council has repaired the park's network of 13 CCTV security cameras and taken on three new rangers to patrol the area.

The scheme has been welcomed by local people.

Pensioner Chris Jordan, who was the victim of one of the attacks, has already noticed a difference. He said: "I think that the community have come together to help fight the problems."

Jangir Khan, chairman of the Friends of Derby Arboretum, said: "I have been in the park recently and I see more and more people having fun and enjoying themselves, and that is what we want for the future of the Arboretum."

The Arboretum was Britain's first public park and dates from 1840. It has undergone a £5.5m makeover with National Lottery cash. But local people say it has become plagued by gangs of threatening teenagers. Seven attacks took place in the park in June and July.

To tackle the problems, police have launched Operation Flower – which includes increased police patrols. Officers will approach and talk to groups of youths who use the park.

Police also say they will use anti-social behaviour orders to crack down on any threatening behaviour.

The police operation was introduced after meetings between community leaders and Chief Inspector Gary Parkin, who is in charge of community safety in Derbyshire.

He said: "The partnership meetings helped highlight issues and concerns and we are determined to help ensure people can use the park for their own enjoyment.

"We have increased the number of police patrols in the park to act as more of a presence and we will use head-cams to build up an intelligence picture of those found to be involved in anti-social behaviour.

"With that information, we will look to work with the Community Safety Partnership to try to prevent these people from acting the way they are and, if necessary, we will seek anti-social behaviour orders against them."

No violent incidents in the park have been reported to police since the end of July.

One of the most severe attacks in the previous two months was on 16-year-old Joe Ford, who suffered a broken leg on July 19.

Seventy-four-year-old Mr Jordan was kicked and spat at by a group of youths in June.

He wrote to the Evening Telegraph, claiming the attack on him was racially motivated and expressing dismay that some the park's CCTV cameras were not working.

Police said the other attacks had involved groups of people from different races and only one, on June 4, appeared to be racially aggravated.

Mr Jordan, of Madeley Street, Derby, welcomed the increased patrols.

He said: "I think in recent weeks it has been a lot more quiet in the park and that is a positive thing. It seemed to me that the main problems were arising when staffing levels and presence in the park were at their lowest. But I think more can still be done, such as staffing the park on weekend evenings.

"Since the problems were highlighted, I have certainly had a lot of support from members of the community and I know the incidents have been talked about throughout the area."

The city council says all 13 of the park's CCTV cameras are now working and three new rangers have been employed.

A spokeswoman said that staff were on duty between 7am and 9pm on days when local clubs used the park for activities.

She also said the council was considering putting more rangers on duty in the evenings.

Mr Khan said: "I always said security in the park needed to increase and it seems that is taking place.

"The future of the park is important to us.

"We want people to come from far afield to see what it is all about. The history is fascinating and we hope the future is a much brighter one and that the past problems are behind us."