‘Mindless’ vandals smashed windows of police car with officer inside – leaving them unable to respond to incidents

On Friday, October 14, offenders threw an object through the rear window of a police car while officers were on patrol in Creswell.

The window of the vehicle was smashed – but the officer inside at the time fortunately escaped any injuries.

Two males were arrested on Saturday, October 15 for their involvement in this offence – as well as other incidents in the village. They have now been interviewed and released under investigation whilst enquiries continue.

A spokesman for Derbyshire Police’s Creswell safer neighbourhood team said: “We have one vehicle less to respond to incidents in. Have you ever thought about how officers conduct enquiries and attend incidents? We use a vehicle, the areas we cover are large and gone are the days of having ‘a local bobby’ who could walk to the incident.

“Officers travel in cars and vans. Imagine now you pick up the phone, ring 999 and ask for immediate police assistance. The operator takes the call and the control room staff find available officers to attend. Now imagine that when they ask the two officers showing as the closest resource to attend, they reply ‘unfortunately we have no vehicle.’

“Walking would not be an option as they are 45 minutes away on foot, from a potentially violent offender who is in your community, who may be face to face with one of your family members, an elderly relative or even your child.

“How would you feel knowing that because of this mindless vandalism, officers can’t attend promptly, can’t safeguard the public and arrest the violent offender? I think we can all appreciate the impact of this crime not only financially (yes we have to pay for the repair and this comes from our taxes) but also the impact as described above.

“We encourage members of the public to report crimes and anti-social behaviour. We will always attend and deal with incidents that are reported and this incident will not stop us. We will continue to fight crime and tackle anti-social behaviour. We would also like to thank our colleagues at Shirebrook Police SNT who assisted us in locating the males and arresting one of them.”

Reports can be made to Derbyshire Police using the below methods:

Facebook – send a private message to /DerbyshireConstabulary

Twitter – direct message the force’s contact centre on @DerPolContact

Website – complete the online contact form

Phone – call 101

You can also contact Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.