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Anti-drugs effort pays off
• WE, from the Camden Town Community Forum applaud the council’s decision to renew the funding for PCSOs for two more years (PCSOs ‘get under dealers’ skin,’ November 27).
Those of us who have lived and worked in Camden Town for a long time have come to expect that the problem of blatant drug dealing on our streets, and the lack of resources needed to tackle it, were things we were just going to have to carry on living with.
We have been made to feel threatened and uncomfortable walking through our local area by these unpleasant criminals.
This is no longer the case. We do not mean to suggest that the problem has completely gone away, but it is in abeyance. We think we, the community, need to show our appreciation for the work done to bring about the improvement. There are two key elements to this.
The first happened about 18 months ago when the council and the Met Police decided to put officers in uniform back onto our streets in the shape of 10 extra police constables and 18 extra PCSOs for our Camden Town force for two years. The second happened last week when the council decided to continue their funding of these PCSOs for a further two years.
They did so against a backdrop of a good deal of financial uncertainty. This is an indicator of how much more seriously they now take this problem.
We saw the first of the rookie PCSOs about a year ago and heard reports of the confidence with which the drug dealers shrugged off their attentions.
A year later our impression is things are very different. The PCSO recognition ceremony at the Town Hall last week saw a group of well-trained, confident young men and women recognised as the people who have turned the tables on the dealers and their like.
As community forum delegate Griselda Brook said recently: “My experience of the PCSOs has been very positive. For example, I sometimes walk from the garden centre in Barker Drive via the canal to Camden High Street. This used to be an intimidating experience, because of the drug users and dealers who congregated there, even as early as 10am. Earlier this year I risked the walk and was much amused (and encouraged) to see various unsavoury characters beating a hasty retreat from the towpath and muttering warnings to others. I couldn’t quite make out what was happening until round the corner appeared two PCSOs! Recently I noticed there was no sign of drug activity but still a police presence there, which was very reassuring ”
Simon Pitkeathley of Camden Town Unlimited said: “A year ago I was the only person in the High Street wearing a suit yet I was offered drugs four or five times a day. These days it happens once or twice a fortnight.”
The job of keeping these streets safer is not yet done and the next few years will be crucial in determining whether this change for the better is lasting or fleeting. In the meantime we think it appropriate that organisations such as ours acknowledge the work of council officers, councillors, the Met Police, Camden Town Unlimited and the many different resident organisations who have all played an important part in this local good news story.
Richard Pearl & Susan Gorrie
Co-Chairs
Camden Town Community Forum
(including residents from Camden Town Speaks, Delancey Street RA, Castlehaven Community Association, Georgiana Street Housing Co-op, Camden Gardens, Curnock Street TRA) |
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