Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Drug problem on doorstop of St John Vianney primary school
The pocket park on Stanley Road has been overtaken by groups of drug users. They use and deal in open sight of the front gates of St John Vianney school and leave their paraphernalia littered throughout the park and surrounding areas. Many of the local street users can be observed loitering for their latest fix in neighbouring streets and there has been a corresponding spike in car break ins and escalating anti-social behaviour. They also have a habit of taking bagged rubbish from front gardens, rifling through it for anything sellable and then discarding the remnants across footpaths.
They have rendered the pocket park unusable and unsafe for children and other residents.
Broken windows...It's only going to get worse.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton
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Can I please assume, Eric Easter, that before you passed on this important and frightening information, that you checked it, either yourself personally, or with another reliable source or sources? And crucially, that you have reported it to the Police?
Did you choose the heading "Drug Shanty Town?" Did you carefully check facts (and spelling) before you posted it?
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Permalink Reply by Eric Easter
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Oh hang on....come to think of it, yes, I did imagine all of that. None of it is happening, I just made it up to entertain myself on a Saturday morning. Of course, I should be spending my time making profound musings informed by boredom, an inate sense of superiority and an addiction to the scribblings of obscure left-wing academics on my local neighbourhood website.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson
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I know this is a pain Eric but you have to report it and keep on reporting it until it gets to the top of the list of priorities for the local police. We have a similar problem with dealing and use where Harringay Passage (a main walking route for kids to both North Harringay and South Harringay primary schools) intersects the Ladder Roads. Reporting every incident is tactic that people on my street have taken. Date, times and locations are important as it allows the police to build up a picture.
https://www.met.police.uk/ro/report/ocr/af/how-to-report-a-crime/
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Thank you Michael. Yes, I have and encourage others to report each instance as you have suggested.
In particular, I do hope that the Headmaster/Headmistress of the school raises the issue with the Police and the Education hierarchy in the Council due to the obvious safeguarding concerns (eg. Visual drug use, needles, human waste etc in the park, unpredictable behaviour). It's not good. Not good at all. I just see it on my daily walks. I can only imagine what the residents of Stanley Road and parents collecting children from school have to deal with.
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Permalink Reply by WGDoug
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With that sort of activity occurring near to you, you should take a look at this advice from the government. If the drug use is as described, overdoses are very possible, perhaps even likely. Opiate overdoses can be reversed. You can easily save a life with a little knowledge, and preparation.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/supplying-take-home-naloxone-without-a-...
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Permalink Reply by Zena Brabazon
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Hi Eric
I know Stanley Road open space as I was councillor for St. Ann's ward 2010-2014. Sadly there was drug dealing then and I spent a lot of time reporting it to the police and the officers. As a small backland site, it is a place where dealers will hang out so a concerted effort from many services and residents is vital. I may have this wrong, but I think there was a lot of local pressure a few years ago, and this led to investment in the open space. I know this from experience in St Ann's and also in Harringay ward. As Michael says, reporting, reporting and reporting is crucial, and having a good and sustained relationship with the local neighbourhood policing team. We were fortunate in Harringay to have the Ladder Community Safety Partnership (LCSP) to work with, and this helped cement our relationship with the local police team which was excellent. We also worked with the Community Safety and Anti-Social Behaviour teams and I think we had some considerable successes.
I don't think other wards have strong neigbourhood policing panels - certainly nothing like the LCSP - but if not, they need to be developed so issues like Stanley Road can be more effectively tackled and prioritised. St Ann's ward has two senior Green councillors, Ruairidh Paton and Georgia Twigg, who leads on Children's Services, so I assume they are all over this issue.
Zena
Zena Brabazon
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