My partner read what I wrote earlier – and made a good point.
“The police don’t bother because what’s the point of arresting the dealers? They get let out anyhow. It’s not like they’re going to jail. They’ll be out on the streets in no time.”
True. But if there were a few police visible in Camden, wouldn’t it make a difference?
Which brings up the point that the jails are full to bursting. Why?
One big reason is that Gordon Brown refused to pony up the cash when he was Chancellor. He preferred to have it invested on more important things, like Lesbian, Bisexual and Equal Opportunity Managers in towns up and down the land.
Another big reason is no sense of priorities – jailing people like single mothers or old age pensioners for trivial offences while villainy in front of everyone’s noses is ignored.
“To govern is always to choose among disadvantages” said De Gaulle. But surely some choices are not that complicated.
Drayton – to understand why the police don’t lock drug dealers up, you have to ask yourself:
‘What is the role of the police?’
It is not to catch criminals. Nor is it to prevent crime. It is to keep order.
The local police know where those drug dealers are, same as in every town. As long as they know where they are, they are in control.
That is why, when people generally get upset – as with, in the past, the IRA bombings and other major disturbances, the police work fast to catch someone, preferably a criminal, because it will restore order. People feel safer.
Petty criminals don’t feature in the importance of keeping order, unless they rob a train or other important institution or involve the government in some way.
This is not implied as a criticism. It’s just about the only way of running things without getting over-enthusiastic and unrealistic. But it does mean that every now and again those poor police all have to get animated and catch someone who is difficult to find.
As for the rest, to know where they are and what they are doing is just about all they can do.
Peter
As a mother who watched helplessly as her son degenerated into drink and drugs, I wish the police had removed the teenage weed dealer from the school. It has been unbelievably hard to get the boy back on track. He was mixing with criminals and there was no help available!