Camden New Journal - News: Paddick plan to beat drugs: take out dealers’ network

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Camden New Journal - By SIMON WROE
Published: 17 January 2008

Brian Paddick, right, with London and Continental Railways chief executive Rob Holden and Camden Council leader Keith Moffitt

Paddick plan to beat drugs: take out dealers’ network

MAYOR of London candidate Brian Paddick promised tougher policies on drug dealers and knife crime if elected, when he paid his first official visit to Camden on Thursday.
The Lib Dem campaign train pulled into St Pancras International station, with the former Holloway police officer pledging a “concerted effort” to clean up drug-scourged Camden Town.
He said: “What you need around drug dealing is a concerted effort from the point of importation to the street dealer and you have to take out the criminal dealer network.
“There’s no point in just tackling the street dealers.
“In terms of reducing the demand it’s about educating young people.”
Mr Paddick courted controversy with his policy on cannabis use during his tenure as police commander in Lambeth, but he denied ever having a “softly, softly approach” to drugs.
He has championed new laws proposing a jail sentence for anyone found carrying a knife. “You talk to the young people who have been involved in the murders we’ve seen in the last year,” he said. “Most will say they never had any intention of killing anybody and it’s just in the heat of the moment. They end up doing something they will regret for the rest of their lives.”
He held up the St Pancras station redevelopment as a model for regeneration across the borough. “Things like this development are changing people’s perception of Camden,” Mr Paddick said. “We need to look at how we can improve the environment to create that welcoming feel you get here.
“We’ve got to create spaces where criminals feel uncomfortable operating. Places that are open, with a fresh feel and no graffiti.”

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