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Sgt Bob Dear |
COPS REVEAL VIOLENCE ON VIDEO NASTY
Police use footage in bid to end bar and takeaway boom
GRAPHIC images of Camden Town at night have been used by police in a bid to force councillors to act on alcohol-related violence.
After years of his warnings appearing to have been ignored, senior licensing officer Sergeant Bob Dear resorted to showing councillors what he called a “video nasty” compiled from CCTV in Camden Town, in which a succession of vicious assaults were carried out.
As images of stabbings, bottlings, stampings and fights flashed across the Town Hall screen on Tuesday, Sgt Dear told the councillors responsible for approving Camden’s record number of drinking and eating establishments: “The only way to stop that is to stop granting licences until four or five in the morning.
“I don’t want to have to come to every committee meeting and show a DVD like that. Enough is enough.
“There is enough in Camden Town now.”
Several councillors gasped as they watched the footage. Councillor Nancy Jirara said: “Seeing these images has made me more resolved. If we are not careful we’ll end up setting up paramedic tents outside our special policy areas [Camden Town].”
Sgt Dear has repeatedly called for stricter controls on licensed premises only to see permission granted by councillors, who have often claimed their hands are forced by legal restraints.
And although the number of violent incidents in bars and restaurants has nearly halved over the past three years as CCTV, police visits and better management have taken effect, violence on Camden’s streets has continued to rise, bucking falling trends across the rest of London. In Camden Town itself, violent crime has jumped by 47 per cent in the past year.
Sgt Dear blamed late-night food outlets for keeping revellers on the streets and in danger of clashing. The number of “refreshment premises”, such as kebab or burger shops, has exploded to cater to expanded licensing hours. Sgt Dear said there were now 13 in Camden High Street that were open until 4am or later. His powerful presentation came in the same week that NHS Camden launched a report that found Camden has London’s highest rate of alcohol-specific hospital admissions for men.
Commenting on the report, Annie McGuinness, an accident and emergency consultant at University College Hospital, said: “It is certainly my impression that we’re getting more drunkeness among teenagers, more episodes of alcohol-fuelled violence among younger people and more people drinking longer into the night.”
Committee chairman Cllr Don Williams said: “That was a sobering video. It is clear that the night-time economy is stressing the area. We will have to look at our special policy area, and we will have to act.”
The committee ordered a review of the special policy area strategy, which in theory requires licensees in Camden Town and the West End to meet stricter requirements, but in practice, according to Sgt Dear and others, has failed to deal with the cumulative impact of drinking “strips”.
l LICENSING police claimed to have closed down a Camden Town pub on Friday. Sgt Dear said he had contacted the brewery which owns the Oh Bar in Camden High Street after watching CCTV of the pub for several months. The pub is understood to be closed while a change of management takes place. |
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