Cracking the drug scourge
by Hammersmith and Fulham Press Office
24/02/2009
One in twenty of all crack house closure orders in England took place in Hammersmith and Fulham latest figures reveal.
A recent probe shows that, between January and September 2008, local Police and council officers shut fifteen crack houses – twice as many closures as the whole of Wales.
Councillor Greg Smith, Cabinet Member for Crime & Street Scene. “We have made cracking down on drug dealers and drug users a top priority and we are seeing real successes in the number of crack houses we have managed to close.”
The news comes just days before the third annual H&F Crime Summit, which is a chance for residents to feedback about crime on a street by street basis.
“We have made a commitment to listen to our residents and to act on the advice we receive from them,” said Councillor Smith. “Only by taking on board the opinions of the people who live in the borough, and reacting to the individual issues ward by ward, can we expect to deliver the sort of successes we have.
“Leading the country in crack house closures is just one example of what we are doing to make Hammersmith and Fulham a safer place to live and work.
“We are planning to reaffirm our commitment to fighting crime locally by pumping an extra £1.1 million into more Beat Bobbies in our town centres. Our zero tolerance approach is working. The number of victims of crime is being cut. We are catching more criminals – particularly drug-users and drug-dealers – and we are also intercepting more knives and weapons before they are used.”
Borough Commander, Kevin Hurley, said: “The fact that our joint operations with the council has resulted in this level of success against crack dealers is something we can all take comfort from. Nevertheless, while there is a single drug dealer left in this borough we will not stop our campaign against them. We take pride in working with councillors and local council officers in continuing to put drug dealers in prison and drive crime down.”
The third annual H&F Crime Summit will take place at Hammersmith Town Hall on Saturday February 28, running between 9.30am and 2pm.
