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‘IT DOESN'T LOOK GOOD’
Crime chiefs admit streets are still in the hands of drug dealers
DRUG dealers are winning the battle for the streets despite the Town Hall’s flagship pledge to clean up the image of Camden Town, new figures show.
With only months left of a three-year crusade against dealers who trade openly around the High Street and canal, the number of drug deals is significantly higher than when the Town Hall first trumpeted plans to “smash the drugs market in Camden Town” back in 2006.
Far from drug dealing tumbling by 30 per cent as politicians pledged, the number of deals caught on camera has actually increased.
And while robberies, burglaries and car break-ins have been significantly cut, Lib Dem and Conservative boasts that unprecedented investment in new police and community support officers would tackle the “aggressive cannabis market” are in jeopardy.
Figures released by the Camden Community Safety Partnership on Tuesday show the number of drug deals recorded on CCTV since April – which covers just a fraction of the whole of the Camden Town drugs market – reached 417 in July.
In 2007 the equivalent figure from the same 19 cameras in the same nine streets was 342.
Experts acknowledge that there is a problem with the project but remain hopeful it can be rescued.
Camden Town Inspector Taylor Wilson said yesterday the figures were a ‘blip’, partly caused by officers being called away to tackle borough-wide priorities including knife crime. He said: “In terms of the numbers it doesn’t look good but I am confident it will come back in line.
“[Tackling drugs] is still the number one priority around the Lock and around Camden Road, but though we are constantly changing what we do – as we change our tactics they (the dealers) change theirs.”
Most other types of crime had fallen as a result of the deployment of 18 additional PCSOs and ten police officers dedicated to Camden Town ward, he said.
In April, Town Hall crime supremo Tony Brooks told the New Journal that the crackdown on Camden Town had reached “tipping point” and that success, which he defined as being able to walk down Camden High Street without seeing dealers at work, was “a lot closer than it was two or three years ago.”
But last year’s success in driving off nearly a quarter of the drug deals has been sharply reversed, as Mr Brooks acknowledged yesterday.
“We are aware of it and concerned about it,” he said.
He said the fact that the new PCSOs often directed the CCTV to film drug deals in progress had added to the figures, adding: “But to be fair, I’m not saying that’s all of it”.
“We are looking at this closely. Will we completely change the way we’re doing things because of this? No. Will we look at doing things differently? Yes. We will work damn hard to meet this target.”
Labour’s crime spokesman Councillor Abdul Hai said yesterday that the figures showed that enforcement was not the answer.
He said: “This is throwing money away, because it isn’t working. This administration has never been realistic about crime and this shows their lack of experience.”
Last night (Wednesday), Lib Dem crime chief Councillor James King defended the project against Labour claims that it was a waste of money by funding boosted teams of officers.
He said: “It is not like we are in a place where we have a problem. This is a long programme of intensive work – let us see what impact we have on crime over the duration of the investment. There is a reduction there in terms of overall crime.” |
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