Thursday, August 14, 2008
Doxey residents unite against drugs
Tonight’s public meeting in Doxey, arranged by the Parish Council and chaired by David Kidney, so that residents could discuss with a panel of representative from public bodies their concerns over crime and community issues was extremely well attended.
Surprisingly the bulk of the meeting was taken up with a discussion over the growing problem of drugs in the Doxey area. Time and time again local residents voiced their worries that a small number of drug users and dealers were congregating in the area and that on the face of it very little was being done to tackle the problem. It appears that certain places in the “Village” are renown as dealing spots and that the same people and cars are seen on a regular basis and that this information has been past to the police. Residents also reported that discarded syringes are also a common feature in some places and that unless removed promptly they caused a real danger to local children.
Frustration certainly was running high as the general tone of the residents was that both the police and the housing associations in the area were doing little to stamp down on the problem. This view was certainly not helped by the police representative who having said that things were happening but because of the way the police work to tackle drugs crime this would not be obvious to the general public then went onto to say he had listened to what was being said and would ensure action was taken to ensure the issue was addressed!
However what did become clear was that the drug scene in the area revolved around a very small number of people, some of whom obviously travel in from other areas, and in no way reflected the community in general.
Tackling drug crime is not an easy thing, and in many ways the answer lies in the hand of the community itself. Certainly the police must not only be made to take action but must also be seen to be doing it by the local community. However they can only act with the full backing of the community itself, something I’m sure Doxey residents are quite willing to give. Already the local Police Community Support Officer Helen Walker is making her mark and this surely must be the foundation on which to build future mutual co-operation.
A few individuals should not be allowed to tarnish the reputation of a community and everything must be done to ensure this doesn’t happen in Doxey.
Surprisingly the bulk of the meeting was taken up with a discussion over the growing problem of drugs in the Doxey area. Time and time again local residents voiced their worries that a small number of drug users and dealers were congregating in the area and that on the face of it very little was being done to tackle the problem. It appears that certain places in the “Village” are renown as dealing spots and that the same people and cars are seen on a regular basis and that this information has been past to the police. Residents also reported that discarded syringes are also a common feature in some places and that unless removed promptly they caused a real danger to local children.
Frustration certainly was running high as the general tone of the residents was that both the police and the housing associations in the area were doing little to stamp down on the problem. This view was certainly not helped by the police representative who having said that things were happening but because of the way the police work to tackle drugs crime this would not be obvious to the general public then went onto to say he had listened to what was being said and would ensure action was taken to ensure the issue was addressed!
However what did become clear was that the drug scene in the area revolved around a very small number of people, some of whom obviously travel in from other areas, and in no way reflected the community in general.
Tackling drug crime is not an easy thing, and in many ways the answer lies in the hand of the community itself. Certainly the police must not only be made to take action but must also be seen to be doing it by the local community. However they can only act with the full backing of the community itself, something I’m sure Doxey residents are quite willing to give. Already the local Police Community Support Officer Helen Walker is making her mark and this surely must be the foundation on which to build future mutual co-operation.
A few individuals should not be allowed to tarnish the reputation of a community and everything must be done to ensure this doesn’t happen in Doxey.
# posted by Barry Stamp @ 7:42 PM 
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
