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Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Police boss promises action over drugs issue at neighbourhood meeting

This evening, Superintendent Chris Jones attended the local community safety partnership (LCSP) meeting at Allison Road Hall to meet Ladder residents about the local drugs issue. Below is a rather hurriedly written update.

Supt Jones is in charge of all neighbourhood teams in Haringey and Enfield. He has been made aware of the increasing drug selling and use issue on the Ladder. Both Councillor Zena Brabazon and Ian Sygrave of the community safety partnership have been in touch with him regularly over the past few months, passing on residents' concerns.  

Today Jones offered to come and meet residents face-to-face to hear about the drugs issue and to offer some action.

About thirty residents attended to meeting with the police boss. All had similar tales of dealing and use in the Passage. Many reported that their children were now fearful of walking to school along the passage. One woman who lives at the Wightman end of her Ladder road said that she now catches a cab home from Green Lanes at night for fear of the drug activity.

We also heard about the use being made of people's front gardens both for drug-taking, as well as for less savoury (and rather more smelly) reasons. The issue affects mainly those living near the Passage.

I found it remarkable how familiar people are with who the drug dealers are, where they live and where the centre of operations is. For example, there were several references to the 'dealer with the pony tail'. 

Supt Jones freely admitted that the neighbourhood has been failed by the local neighbourhood policing system. Whilst the causes of the failure are complex and, of course, include limited resources, Jones has been able to identify local policing management issues that he feels he can address. 

"I promise you I'll resolve it", he said at one point. 

Coming from someone else, this may have been less convincing. But I did feel that Jones meant what he said. He made several very specific promises

  1. From tomorrow (Friday 10th Sept) uniformed police will be on patrol along the Passage at school drop-off and pick-up times.
  2. Starting next Monday, he will make weekly reports to the local community safety partnership.
  3. He will produce a 30-day plan for tacking the issue
  4. He will attend the LCSP meeting in November to take feedback and provide another update on the issue

At the same time, our local neighbourhood policing team has just been doubled from two officers to four.

Jones asked that despite the frustrations reported at the meeting with reporting the drugs issues to the police, that we all continue doing so. He said that this ensures that the severity of the issue is registered so that it can compete with other demands on police resources. 

He advised that if we witness something that feels immediately threatening, we should call 999, He said that If the operator tries to tell you its the wrong place to report it, tell them Jones told you to call there. 

If it's an update on intelligence on the ongoing issue, he asked that you send an email to the neighbourhood policing team at harringay.snt@met.police.uk. I suggest that you copy it to lcsp@blueyonder.co.uk.

Jones told the meeting that all emails will be logged and people should expect an email response. If this doesn't happen, we can update him in November when he attends the LCSP meeting that month. 

Cllr Zena Brabazon told the meeting that she would like to see a Harringay Ladder summit meeting over the issue to co-ordinate the council and police response and bring in people like architects and specialist police officers to introduce 'designing out crime' measures. 

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George  you've not stated any idea of your location except opposite the Ladder is this Seven Sisters Ward / Hermitage Road - The Gardens / Woodlands Park - St Anns Ward - Turnpike Lane end . There are a series of networked community groups out there to help local residents which are already set up ?

Via community residents groups and NHW groups

A. Are you part of any of these groups

B. Are you reporting these incidents to the Police via 101 or your local SNT ( Safer Neighbourhoods Team)

Hi Andy, this was on Harringay Road. I'm not part of a community group, and not sure which of the groups you mentioned cover this area. I've not reported incidents such as this in the past, you can become so accustomed to seeing this stuff on a daily basis that your threshold for what's acceptable definitely gets higher and higher! The contacts shared in this thread are useful to know for future reference though.

I’ve checked the council boundary map and you are just inside St Anns Ward at the moment - boundary changes on the way) meaning you should contact the St Ann’s SNT Safer Neighbourhoods Team ( Local Police) and ask if there is an existing Neighbourhood Watch you can join if not they should advise you on how to set one up.

stanns.snt@met.police.uk

Your local Cllrs could advise if there is a residents group that covers your street, if not think about setting one up. 

No police presence outside Turnpike Lane station and the usual mob (at least 10 in 3 separate groups) were back, although they had gathered by the railings near the pedestrian crossing into the bus station, so ever so slightly less obvious.  Ah well, it was welcome whilst it lasted, 

You will be pleased to hear that St Anns Ward has also just been given a boost as our Sgt Thomas Hassan of St Anns SNT ( Safer Neighbourhoods Team) has managed to access Two extra officers who will join on a temporary basis over the next few months as part of a training scheme so will give us a few more boots on the ground over the busy Autumn/Winter period.

This will boost St Anns Ward to 5 officers, which we hope will confront the on going chronic and ongoing drug dealing and using issues across St Anns Ward too.

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