Covent Garden London
The heart of London's West End
Police Report
This year in Covent Garden has been a disappointment. As you may well remember, the start of Operation Lilac, with the prospect of increasing the policing and tackling the very serious drug abuse and drug dealing in the area, gave us some cause for optimism. Funding from central government established the Lilac Team. They have worked hard to clear areas such as Charing Cross Road, St Giles, Phoenix Gardens, etc. However, what was not clear at the time, well certainly not to most of us in the area, was that the boundary ran through the heart of Covent Garden and that displacement was therefore inevitable. Rather than improve our quality of life, many of us now seem worse off than ever before.
Until the Police have a visible presence, which we know is not likely to happen, due to staff and resource shortages, then I have to say I am deeply concerned for the future of this area. We all know how serious the situation became in Kings Cross, and certainly we cannot bear a repetition here. However, unless this community's cry for help is recognised, we face a future that is equally untenable.
We all know that without sufficient policing, anarchy would prevail - a terrifying prospect indeed! But until central government stops paying lip service to what is a national crisis and recognises that the police service is seriously understaffed, demoralised and underpaid, we can hardly expect law and order to be adequately maintained.
At the recent Camden South Sector Police meeting, there was only one subject on the agenda: drugs.... In fact, there are many other issues that concern this community, however the distress caused by drug addicts and dealers in this area has overwhelmed us, and is destroying what little quality of life we have left.
Neither central government nor the boroughs of Camden and Westminster appear to acknowledge that the police are stretched to the limit and that all their efforts are undermined by a serious lack of funding, which can only result in a further deterioration of the service.
On a positive note, working together, we have a collective voice, so let us use it by lobbying central government to assist our police to perform their duties unhindered by financial constraints. Whilst trying hard, it must be acknowledged that with the best will in the world, without sufficient resources (and that also means visible policing!) the outlook is not looking good.
Jo Weir
Covent Garden Community Association Annual Report 2000-2001
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