Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Dodgy people in my front garden!

This morning (Sunday) at about 11:30 my wife noticed suspicious activity in our front garden (on the ladder). As I went out to investigate, a woman was exiting the gate and there was a man hiding under the tree in the front garden. I shouted at them to F off and they did. The woman was very apologetic!

I’m not sure what they were up to but my wife recognised her as the woman often soliciting certain services to men on the corner of Frobisher & Ducketts Common ...

A while ago also we caught an older couple smoking drugs on our doorstep whom again I managed to shift away.

WTF has happened to our neighbourhood?!!

Any suggestions as to how to stop this or any security measures that we could put in place?

Thanks in advance.

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Permalink Reply by Classical Contrarian on August 9, 2021 at 20:05

Ah that's unfortunate!

I don't feel like the police will do much about this, but I also don't think it's a negative trend, it's just more likely that the addicts in question have developed a different routine and that's unfortunately past your property.

I think the way forward is some sort of deterrence as other methods won't work.

Does your gate lock?

Could you get a taller fence/hedge?

Can you install motion based CCTV with a recorded voice?

Other than those 'passive' measure I don't think you'll have much luck.

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on August 9, 2021 at 21:43

This sounds very unpleasant. People on my road who live near the Passage are getting drug users making use of front gardens too. We had a street discussion with Cllr Brabazon a few weeks back and she’s been talking with police about it. So it’s certainly worth feeding your situation in.

It’s also worth connecting with Ian Sygrave at the LCSP who has also been dealing with this.

I’m not sure how many resources the police will put to dealing with individual transgressions. I think we’re better off getting the council and the police working together to find an area-wide solution.

in the meantime, I guess residents need to look to their own resources. I’d go for minimising anything that offers cover (including lower hedges rather than higher ones). A bright PIR motion detector light would also be a sound investment.

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Permalink Reply by Aligator on August 10, 2021 at 8:28

Thanks for your comments folks.

I'm not sure the police or the Council would do anything.

Next weekend I'll cut down most of the tree in the front garden to minimise the cover as Hugh rightly suggested. We're going to make sure that the gate is properly shot and I'm going to attach something to it so it makes a sound when its opened.

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on August 10, 2021 at 8:46

As I said, I don’t think either the council or the police are likely to respond to individual cases of this nature. But, it is worth letting Zena (and Ian) know your situation. It both keeps the issue uppermost in her mind and gives her ammunition to demand action. As a cabinet member, she has a good profile. Another issue raised on her recent visit to my road was drug dealing in the Passage. The following week, she attended the local police panel meeting and raised the issue. The week after, a team of six plain clothes officers had been drafted in to patrol the Passage.

Would an alternative to cutting the whole tree down be to ‘lift’ it, ie to remove the lower limbs?

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Permalink Reply by EMC2 on August 10, 2021 at 9:06

Maybe think about planting prickly shrubs/plants? Here's a few. Pyracantha and Berberis are really good.

Creeping Juniper - Juniperis horizontalis 'Wiltonii' - Also known as 'Blue Rug', has a thorny stem and foliage.

Common Holly - Ilex agulfolium - Large evergreen shrub, dark green spiked leaves.

Chinese Jujube - Zizyphus sativa - Medium sized tree with very spiny pendulous branches.

Firethorn - Pyracantha 'Orange Glow' - Flowers white in June, with bright orange-red berries. Thorny stem.

Shrub Rose - Rosa 'Frau Dagmar Hastrup' - Excellent ground cover, pale pink flowers, very thorny stem. May to September.

Firethorn, or pyracantha, is a tough, very spiky ornamental evergreen shrub that has creamy-white flowers in spring

Purple Berberis - Berberis thunbergil 'Atropurpurea'- Has a thorny stem.

Fuschia-flowered Gooseberry - Ribes speciosum - Fruit bush, spiny, produces greenish to greenish-pink flowers in clusters of two or three.

The following thorny plants can also be considered: Aralia, Chaenomeles, Colletia, Crataegus (including hawthorn/may), Hippophae (sea buckthorn), Maclura, Mahonia, Oplopanax, Osmanthus, Poncirus, Rhamnus, Rosa (climbing & shrub roses), Rubus (bramble), Smilax Prickly ash (Zanthoxylum).

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on August 10, 2021 at 9:53

Now, there's a good suggestion. Climbing roses can also create very inhospitable environments.

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Permalink Reply by Lauren on August 10, 2021 at 10:33

We had people smoking crack in our front garden a couple of years ago when the basement flat was empty. Safer Neighbourhood Team were supportive, try giving them a call.

Please reconsider cutting down your tree… we need more not fewer trees!

A light on a motion sensor or maybe even a cctv camera sign in your window might help. We placed a webcam in the window, wasn’t even linked to anything but acted as a reasonable deterrent.

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Permalink Reply by mother hen on August 10, 2021 at 12:12

We also had this problem a couple of weeks ago, looked out the window and saw a man and woman sprawling in the front garden. They did leave when I went out and asked them to, but it still left a horrible feeling. I too reported it to the Safety Neighbourhood Team and sent them a video of the couple which they paid attention to. I think the more anyone affected reports these incidents, the more it will be taken seriously and more attention paid to it.

I have been told from elsewhere that 2 people found by police on a doorstep on the Ladder recently were issued with CPNs (Community Protection Notices) as a warning, so action can be taken.

SNT e mail: SNTYR-.Harringay@met.police.uk

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Permalink Reply by Maddy on August 10, 2021 at 13:37

I recommend a gate that shuts properly - since I fixed mine I've had no-one smoking on my doorstep like they used to. The only problem is the EVERYONE who comes to the front door leaves the gate open when they go.