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Cllr Ben Rawlings |
Crime Czar: ‘Asbos a weapon of last resort’
Youngest-ever cabinet member attacks ‘slapdash’ bans
THE Town Hall’s new 24-year-old ‘Crime Czar’ has attacked the use of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (Asbos) as a way of beating drug dealing.
Liberal Democrat councillor Ben Rawlings – Camden’s youngest-ever cabinet member – said Labour had dished out the banning orders in a “thoughtless and slapdash way” and promised a complete review of the system.
In his first interview with the New Journal, Cllr Rawlings said this week: “Drugs are clearly a major issue and we need to look at the different options available to us. We need to look at what has been going on and what hasn’t worked. There is evidence that Asbos have not worked.
“They may remove a drug addict or drug dealer from one area but there is evidence to suggest they just move them on and into residential areas.”
Before being toppled from power at last month’s council elections, Labour had pressed ahead with the use of Asbos – more than 250 were obtained against drug dealers, prostitutes and unruly teenagers.
Senior figures in the party boldly claimed their strategies could put an end to the historic problem of drug dealing in Camden Town within two years.
Cllr Rawlings said: “Now is not the time to make pledges, now is the time to review what has been going on. We are not opposed to the use of Asbos in principle as long as they are used as originally intended. They should be a last resort.
“In Camden they have been handed out in a thoughtless and slapdash way. They are one tool that can be used but we want to look at a range of ways to make the community safer.”
He is ignoring whispers at the Town Hall among some councillors who feel he is too young for such an important job. Pointing to his decade of youth work, Cllr Rawlings, originally from Scunthorpe, said the problems found in his home town were similar to those in Camden.
Asked whether he himself had been drawn into the world of drugs, he said that he had not touched illegal substances. Cllr Rawlings said: “They are not something that have been part of my life and as far as I am aware they are not something that have been part of the lives of my closest friends.
“But I have been aware that drugs existed. I was aware they existed at university and I was aware of the dangers.”
He added that he would make sure the new Safer Neighbourhoods policy of permanently stationing police officers in a particular ward was effective.
Quizzed on whether he would consider creating ‘shooting galleries’ – places where drug addicts can go to inject safely – he added: “We will look at the different options but we won’t be rushing to knee-jerk and media-friendly changes. We have to look at why Camden Town is seen as the place to buy and sell drugs.”
But Asbo supporter Silla Carron, tenants’ leader on drug-hit Clarence Way estate in Camden Town, said: “He is talking out of his backside. He should do his research. You can go to other places in the country and find Asbos being dished out like Smarties. There are places where you only have to swear and you get an Asbo.
“In Camden, it’s different. They have been used to improve the place. As a case is being prepared, the crackhead involved is offered the chance to go into rehab.
“They have been used a lot in Camden because Camden has more crackheads than other places.”
Labour councillor Theo Blackwell said: “What I would say to Cllr Rawlings is: which of the Asbos we obtained was wrong? Which ones should we have not gone for?
“It is made out that we only used Asbos but in fact we also spent money on preventative measures too.” |
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