Exclusive: Chesterfield is a “safe place to live and work” – say police as we join town centre patrol after new partnership launched

It was a very rainy and surprisingly cold June morning, when I joined Inspector Joshua Carter and PCSO Emma Shimwell on their patrol in the town centre to better understand crime levels across Chesterfield, new partnerships and local policing priorities.

The main issues in the centre are retail crime and anti-social behaviour, while in a wider area of Chesterfield priorities include nuisance bikes and drugs, Inspector Carter explained as we stopped for shelter under one of market stalls.

He said: "We used to have an issue with street drinking in the town centre and market area – but we managed to reduce it significantly.

"Two years ago these market stalls would be full of street drinkers, but we worked to change this and there has been regeneration within the town centre.

"The public don’t realise this change is because of the work we do to make the town centre a safe and welcoming place to be in.”

Inspector Carter, who leads policing throughout Chesterfield, explained how police have worked with Chesterfield Borough Council to target repeat offenders and reduce crime in the town centre – with 14 Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBOs) and 13 Civil Injunction Orders issued in the area in the last 12 months.

Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBOs) are court-issued orders, based on criminal conviction, which ban individuals from specific locations such as the town centre or specific shops and are often used to target repeat offenders.

Civil Injunction Orders, which require a lower burden of proof and can be issued without a criminal conviction, are civil court orders, which can require a person to either perform a specific action or refrain from a specific behaviour.

Inspector Carter explained both types of orders help to keep repeat offenders out of the town centre, or other target areas, reducing retail crimes, anti-social behaviour and drunkenly disorder.

Recently, the orders have helped to tackle problems caused by youths congregating around fast food restaurants and getting involved in anti-social behaviour (ASB) – with reports of youth related ASB dropping down by 85% since the highest point in mid January.

Inspector Carter said: “We have seen a substantial reduction in youth ASB.

“We had up to 30 reports a week in town centre but we have reduced it to two or three a week.

"We have team members who visit schools to identify individuals who have caused trouble in the past and work with youth services at Chesterfield FC Community Trust.

"We speak to parents, issue acceptable behaviour contracts, issue youth dispersal orders, or letters banning them from places such as for shopping centres or town centre.”

Asked if orders banning youths and repeat offenders from the town centre don’t just move problems to other parts of Chesterfield, Inspector Carter said: “If we ban repeat offenders from the town centre and they are causing nuisance for example at Chatsworth Road, we can ban them from that area as well.

"We can ban people involved in drunkenly disorder from having an open can or bottle of alcohol in any public place in Chesterfield or ban repeat shoplifters from specific shops or all shops in an area.”

Inspector Carter presented a map of a town centre area where many CBOs are in place and explained police have recently worked with the town council to further extend the order to Chatsworth Road after reports of anti-social behaviour.

He added that his team were constantly keeping the area under review to ensure repeat offenders are not causing trouble – with CBOs allowing officers to apply for higher fines and longer prison sentences.

To further reduce crime in the town centre police are working closely with the council and the business owners, who for a small fee can be added to the watch radio system and alert officers to any ongoing incidents in a matter of seconds.

“If a shop contacts us throughout the radio, we can come in and arrest them – if they have a CBO we can arrest them even before they commit another offence,” Inspector Carter said.

Speaking about the high number of arrests in connection with criminals targeting town centre shops, he added: “When it comes to retail crime we naturally will see an increase in town centre, where there are more shops.

“We have a push around retail crime and our new partnerships has strengthened this.”

The Chesterfield Town Centre Partnership – a collaboration between Chesterfield Borough Council, Derbyshire Constabulary and Chesterfield Community Trust launched in May.

The scheme is set to help bring together a team of multi‑skilled officers to deliver a stronger, more coordinated and visible presence in the town centre, with daily patrols between 7am and 11pm.

He said: “The purpose of the partnership is to increase visibility and patrols, deal with low level anti-social behaviour, target retail crime, and share information with the council for example to help us get civil injunction orders.

"So far we have had a very positive feedback from members of the public who approach as on patrol as well as many shoplifters targeted, and new orders issued to keep the town centre safe.”

While retails crime and Anti-Social Behaviour are main issues in the town centre other areas of Chesterfield are affected by different crimes – with nuisance bikes among top priorities for Chesterfield police officers.

Inspector Carter said: “We have recently had a tragic death of a child on an off-road bike and it’s a big priority for us to target these bikes.

“That’s why we have asked members of the public to report nuisance bikes to us.”

Inspector Carter has explained that while officers can’t always stop a bike immediately, reports help to build intelligence around the riders and get the ‘dangerous’ vehicles off the roads.

He added: “Important message to the public is that we may not always come flying out with blue lights on when we receive reports of nuisance bike.

“If we have officers on foot patrol in the area and bikes riding at 50mph, they are hard to stop.

"And these bikes are difficult to stop safely on the road as well.

"If someone contacts us about the nuisance bikes, we build a bigger picture of where they are congregating and who is riding them, so we can take them off the roads safely.

"We really appeal to the public to report nuisance bikes to us.”

Reports of nuisance bikes causing issues come from across various areas in Chesterfield, including Queen’s Park where 30 ‘incidents’ relating to alleged crimes were reported in 12 months.

Data revealed by police show that in the year ending in March 2026, a total of 21 violent and sexual offences were recorded at the popular park – four of which were sexual offences.

But Inspector Carter reassured that Queen Park was not a particularly dangerous place.

He said: “Queen’s Park is a busy area, which attracts members of the public from across Chesterfield and North Derbyshire.

"We have seen some youths who have been congregating in the park, causing anti-social behaviour and riding on nuisance bikes.

"But there are no specific patterns of crimes in Queen’s Park or Chesterfield parks.”

Another priority for Chesterfield officers is dealing with drug related crime, which includes reacting to drug dealing reports as well as building intelligence to locate properties used for storing drugs and cultivating cannabis farms, like the one recently dismantled at the former Eyre’s building.

Inspector Carter said: “We do proactive work based on drug related reports – with Newbold and Grangewood among our priority areas

"We also do a lot of work in the town centre around drug issues, putting orders in place to ensure repeat offenders are not in town.

"We are working with the council, obtaining closure orders and shutting where supply is taking place.”

Before the end of our walk around the town centre, I ask Inspector Carter about the high stalking report figures across Chesterfield, which show 1746 reports of Stalking And Harassment in 12 months.

This comes as we mark the fifth anniversary of tragic death of Gracie Spinks, 23, who was killed by stalker Michael Sellers in June 2021.

Inspector Carter said: “How we record crimes change over time.

“At the moment we have a low threshold to record a crime in relation to stalking.

"In my experience many stalking offences tends to be domestic related issues.

“We also get people saying they are harassed or stalked on social media.

"Any crimes reported to us is taken seriously.”

Inspector Carter further explained that crime data can fluctuate due to a number of factors including increased number of victims deciding to come forward, changed to threshold to report some crimes and political changes.

He said: “We are constantly reducing crime.

“Crime stats are fluctuating because how we record crimes changes.

"Different governments record crime differently so even political landscape impacts the numbers.

"That’s why it is hard to have a true reflection of how safe it is based purely on stats.”

Speaking about overall crime figures for Chesterfield, Inspector Carter added: “To people who are worried about crime in Chesterfield, I would say that overall Chesterfield is a safe place to live and work and we have a strong partnership with the council and community.

"I have to decide where to prioritise resources based on reports we receive from the public so I would want to ask people to continue to report any issues to us and we will take action.”