‘Police stretched by drugs gangs’
Bath has been infiltrated by organised drug criminals and local policing is too stretched to deal with it, a local councillor has warned. Councillor Andrew Furse (Kingsmead, Lib Dems) has called for an increased “policing effort” in the city to tackle the presence of “county line” drug dealers. He said he had become aware of a particular problem in the area from Norfolk Crescent to Kingsmead Square. Norfolk Crescent was the scene of a violent attack on a teenager involving a “number of weapons” last month. “The arrival of county lines has resulted in rampant drug dealing in the street, flats taken over by gangs and communities witnessing a machete attack and drug injections in the street,” Mr Furse said. “Many residents are in fear of leaving their flat or having their children play on the local green.” County lines is a name given to criminals from major cities running drug networks in the towns and rural areas. This activity brings violence, exploitation and abuse to rural communities and often targets young and vulnerable people. The term county lines was coined because a single telephone number is used to order drugs, operated from outside the area. Mr Furse said police officers and PCSOS were having to do more paperwork as a result of cuts to administrative staff, and that they were often needed in Bristol. In a letter to the editors of Bath Chronicle, he wrote: “Central police funding has cut back-office staff with the intention of keeping front line staff, but this is a false economy since beat officers and PCSOS are now having to spend additional time processing crime and thus are not visible on the streets as residents expect. “Correspondents to your paper and the MP may be calling for a police station, but what we need is a clear understanding of the police resources to tackle this level of organised crime in Bath and make our communities safe. “Local police need the support, management and resources to tackle this organised crime, they need to work closely with social landlords, and they need to sort this out fast.” Mr Furse said he had raised concerns with the local police inspector after talking with police officers, members of the business community, residents and community groups and “a major social landlord”. He said he has also met with Sue Mountstevens, the Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Commissioner. Bath has ten neighbourhood police officers and ten PCSOS, plus a confidential number of officers who respond to 999 calls, a police spokeswoman said. Ms Mountstevens announced earlier this month that Avon and Somerset police would recruit “up to 300 extra people” this year funded by a £1 increase to the council tax police precept. The vast majority will be frontline officers, she told BBC Radio Bristol on September 18. But a spokeswoman for the constabulary, which is responsible for actual recruitment said, it was not possible to say whether Bath would be getting any extra police officers. The spokeswoman explained that some of those recruited would be filling vacancies left when officers retired, for example. And Ms Mountstevens, speaking on BBC Radio Bristol, warned more cuts lay ahead. “I’d just like to say that this isn’t the end of austerity,” she said. “We’ve found nearly £18 million of savings in the last few years; we’ve still got to find another £16 million in the next three or four years, so there’s still going to be cuts and changes.” She was clear there would be no cuts to neighbourhood policing, however. “Those numbers are absolutely sacrosanct and we will keep those for the next two years,” she said. “But money coming from local people we’ll put into frontline officers.” She added: “We’re never going to get back to the numbers unless there’s a great big dollop of money from central government. “But council tax money from local residents, that equates to about 38 per cent of the total budget. It’s a large amount.” Ms Mountstevens hinted that it will take a further increase in council tax police precepts to bring more officers to Avon and Somerset. “Yes, I suspect it will be whether local people agree again and I’m out for consultation on that at the moment,” she said. Developing Health and Independence (DHI) runs free and confidential services for young people and adults who want help with a drug or alcohol problem in Bath and North East Somerset. You can contact them on 01225 329411 or info@dhibath.
Local police need the support, management and resources to tackle this organised crime