INGOL COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION

Drugs on the Estate a very serious issue, that blights all neighbourhoods across the country and we are no exception.
Where we differ from most areas we decided to do something about it.
We first of all let everyone know who to contact as regards information on either drug users or more importantly drug dealers. We soon became experts at gathering information and soon built up evidence against a number of properties. We realised that the extent of the problem was far worse than we imagined and it was growing.

Through reassurance, we put pressure on Preston City Council to review their letting policy and built a good relationship with Smartmove. To get this far we asked the question in the council chambers informing them that should the situation not improve then we will consider suing them. Slowly but surely we managed to stop the situation from escalating.

This though did not help the problems we already had. There were daily occurrences of open drug dealing on the streets, this had to stop. When we saw this happening 2 or 3 of us would approach them in an attempt to move them on. We also informed the police and gave them names whenever we could. Over a period of time the open drug dealing dwindled to almost nothing. The benefit of this was that people no longer felt threatened by big gangs hanging around.

Whenever we saw known drug users or dealers we would question them as regards to what they were doing. Not that we got any real information but it across to them that we were watching them, knew what they were up to and let them know we would be reporting this to the police. They soon got to the stage that they tried to avoid us as much as possible. This made them ill at ease and drove the problem underground. Now if you ask most residents they will not think that there is a problem. A major step forward as they now feel safer and reassured.

We had identified 28 houses that were in the network which up to now had never been challenged in the years that they had been a problem, so much so they would deal openly. There were 4 dealers with most of the others dealing in a minor way to feed their habit, this was funded by stealing, begging and prostitution. They used to congregate in groups of anything up to 12, waiting for a 'drug drop', they did this openly. They would shout abuse, intimidate, use foul language, and even openly urinate on cars, walls and in the gutter. 3 or 4 of our members would put their yellow coats on; printed on the back was 'Ingol and Tanterton working with the Police for Reassurance'.' They would then mingle with them to disrupt the drop, ask the present price of crack using the names of those present, this definitely made them feel uneasy, and we decided that we would make a statement that they were not welcome.

On occasions we obtained the odd mobile numbers that they used for ordering drugs, at first we passed them on to the police. It soon became apparent that nothing was ever done with this information so we took to ringing ourselves. We would pass the number to other ICA members who would all ring up, this definitely upset them. Usually they would respond by asking in colourful language who had given us the number. Of course we always gave a name of one of the users, many a black eye and bruised face was seen to appear.


We would do most anything as long as it was legal, on one occasion we made a price list of the most popular drugs on the estate, it stated that the supplier was the cheapest in the area and offered to beat any competitor's price. Early in the morning, long before there was any possible sign of life, we stuck the price lists to their front doors with amusing results.


In one of our news letters we told them they was not welcome on the estate and we the residents were sick and fed up with the disruption and intimidation we all felt. We made the offer that if they wanted we would give them a train ticket, (one way) to get out of town, we followed this up by sending the dealers a train warrant voucher in the post, we had no takers.

 
On a more serious note, the police needed to know who was going to certain houses. We undertook the task of monitoring all visitors, on one particular house we monitored every person who called for 5 weeks, getting a name wherever possible. If this was not possible a description and what they were carrying going in and what they were carrying leaving, how long in the house, we ensured that every car that visited had their number checked out by the police.

This particular person had managed to break the toilet, and they were having to use the garden for their needs, the Council had called on appointment many times to replace but could not get entry and were refused to call again.

The occupier who had at one stage had over 22 emergency calls, made by residents over their behavior in 2 months, called to see me at my home to see if I could help. I talked to the council and made arrangements for the repair to be made. You have to admire their bottle.

We photographed anything unusual, click here for just one such photo, in this instance we had an article published in the local paper ensuring a copy was delivered to the house.
We pressurised them in every way we could, making it absolutely clear that their behaviour was no longer acceptable, they could change or leave. At one stage three of these antisocial users approached us to see if we could help them get a Council House out of the area, this was the first sign we were starting to regain our streets.

These people would deal anywhere and took to dealing outside local shops, this obviously intimidated shoppers, people were scared not wanting to give statements to the police.

The ICA produced posters offering a £500 reward for any information and convictions for drug dealing, we placed them in the widows of the local shops, it highlighted to the dealers that we were watching them, it did help in moving them on.

Another way we used to annoy them, when one or two of them would go on their supply run we would follow them for hours, waiting for them to come out of houses, we would cover both front and back door. They would attempt to foil us by jumping garden fences but if we did lose them we would comb the area until we picked them up. I must admit this on occasions result in a face off and tempers frayed but we stood our ground we certainly getting at them.

Good riddence - evicted at last - on yer bike - another success
With all the activities we had in identifying the thieves and dealers the police via the NRPP we would give the police address's that we wanted them to search.

The NRPP programme certainly made you feel you were part of the team
Back to: the part we played