Has anybody ever reported a street dealer in Brixton?

[pinkmonkey]

For those using Notting Hill as an example - I've lived in both places - Brixton and Notting Hill. Was a victim of crime four times in Notting Hill - street robbery twice, death threat by some random nutter (luckily he chased me into the path of a patrol car who then arrested him), chased down the street by another nutter, threatening me with a broken whisky bottle.
Brixton - nothing.
IMO Notting Hill is about as gentrified as you can get but it is still surrounded by council estates and poverty.....

I didn't mind the street dealers when I lived in Brixton - but now, as an outsider, the amount of umm.... liveliness on the street when you come out of the tube station does take some getting used to.....it so in-yer-face. The only similar place is Camden, you get lots more hassle there by weed dealers - they seem desperate.

I live in Tottenham BTW....

 

[detective-boy]

Which seems like placing the responsibility for the problem with the local community. And if your stance is that street dealing is a "bad thing" then, by implication, the community are doing the "wrong" thing in not supporting the police in stopping it.

I don't think street dealing is a good thing - not because of the drugs themselves (if you read my posts you will know my view is that almost all drugs should be legalised) but because of the wider impact on criminality. If society has a law, that law should be enforced appropriately. If it isn't, or can't be, then it should be removed.

I have no view on whether or not the community's attitude is a good or a bad thing - it is not my community and so I am not entitled to a view (as I am repeatedly told). Other than to say that those who are part of that community and who do not want it there could organise and make it impossible if they wished - they are by far in the majority over those who would actively argue against them.

 

[detective-boy]

Sure. But if removed from central Brixton, they are just going to go somewhere else, where someone else is going to get caught in the crossfire, no?

The same arguments apply wherever they go.

OK, this is a fair point, but is it not possible for the police to strike some sort of line where, for example, people are not regularly arrested for just selling weed, but, they do come down heavily on anything more serious within the same area, in order that the necessary message is got across?

No. The only way the police wold know it was weed being sold would be after an arrest had been made - once a criminal offence is then disclosed (and selling weed is), it would not be right for the police to be allowed to ignore it. The best that can reasonably be done is being done already - maximum use of non-prosecution disposals (cautions, etc) for weed offences and significantly lower sentences even if there is a prosecution.

In every situation people being prosecuted say "What about them then ..." and point at others (even speeding motorists stopped at the roadside, pointing at others whizzing by). Do you not think that this would create even more problems / allegations if some dealers were ignored and others were arrested?

 

[HackneyE9]

Most of my white friends won't come to Brixton because they think it's a dangerous ghetto.

Sounds like you've got some proper tosser friends. Don't know what that says about you.

 

[teuchter]

No. The only way the police wold know it was weed being sold would be after an arrest had been made - once a criminal offence is then disclosed (and selling weed is), it would not be right for the police to be allowed to ignore it. The best that can reasonably be done is being done already - maximum use of non-prosecution disposals (cautions, etc) for weed offences and significantly lower sentences even if there is a prosecution.

In every situation people being prosecuted say "What about them then ..." and point at others (even speeding motorists stopped at the roadside, pointing at others whizzing by). Do you not think that this would create even more problems / allegations if some dealers were ignored and others were arrested?

Well, what I'm suggesting is that the police can unofficially ignore the actual dealing - ie. they don't make a particular effort to apprehend the guys standing about outside KFC, but they do make big deal about attending to any kind of aggro in the surrounding area, and whether or not the person causing the trouble happens to be one of the dealers, they get dealt with fairly severely. I would say that sends a fairly clear message that the actual dealing/loitering about is tolerated to some extent, but any associated trouble is not. If someone is, say, arrested for causing some kind of trouble in somebody's back yard, and is found with drugs on them, and done for it and tries the "what about them then" line, then the answer is quite simple: they aren't causing hassle.

I mean, anyway, this is kind of the arrangement at the moment, isn't it?

 

[teuchter]

I don't think street dealing is a good thing - not because of the drugs themselves (if you read my posts you will know my view is that almost all drugs should be legalised) but because of the wider impact on criminality.

I understand what you're saying.

And I also think that most drugs should be legalised.

But I kind of think that anyone whinging about the presence of the dealers should be asking for the law to be changed, not for the dealers to be moved on. Or coming up with some kind of solution that doesn't involve just shifting the problem onto someone else.

 

[nick h.]

Getting rid of the dealers would make Brixton vaguely pleasant, therefore it's a good reason to let them stay....?

I know I haven't been around these parts long, but that has to be the biggest heap of bollocks I've read so far.

It's market forces. I'm afraid you can't fault my logic.

If Brixton turning nice would upset you, I'm sure there are other shitholes around London that would gladly have you living in as another target for burglary, mugging, stabbing, shooting etc etc.

You misunderstand the nature of the local violence. Unlike, say, Swindon, where chavs will administer a kicking to random targets purely for amusement, Brixton violence tends to be personal. It's usually gang-related or triggered by perceived disrespect. Innocent passers-by are rarely affected. (I can only think of one exception - the Polish woman in New Cross who was killed by a stray bullet.) I feel safer around here than in many parts of Britain. In fact I only know of one person who's been mugged in the three years I've lived here. There are so many cameras and police that street robbery can't be a very viable career option.

And Brixton's already nice. That's why I came here. The Afro-Caribbean culture makes it one of the few parts of London where strangers talk to each other. Elsewhere English culture rules: stare ahead and avoid eye contact with people you haven't been introduced to.

 

[ajdown]

And Brixton's already nice. That's why I came here. The Afro-Caribbean culture makes it one of the few parts of London where strangers talk to each other.

The only stuff I hear from strangers when I'm down the bottom of the hill shopping is "skunk, weed".

 

[Dan U]

I want the Effra to be full of Windy boys, not white football fans.

but a lot of the 'Windy boys' sold up and moved South towards Thornton Heath and made a few quid out of it, ironically when Brixton first became full of 'white bohemians'

you can't stop areas from changing demographically. Brixton used to be white and middle class for starters, it's changed once already, it may change again further, but i hope not.

I suggest you move to Thornton Heath if you yearn for a pint with some west indians.

 

[teuchter]

Getting rid of the dealers would make Brixton vaguely pleasant, therefore it's a good reason to let them stay....?

I know I haven't been around these parts long, but that has to be the biggest heap of bollocks I've read so far.

If Brixton turning nice would upset you, I'm sure there are other shitholes around London that would gladly have you living in as another target for burglary, mugging, stabbing, shooting etc etc.

It's a bit of a mystery to me why you choose to live in Brixton, if you dislike it so much?

 

[bluestreak]

If I had any decent sized business dealing weed I wouldn't keep it on me. I'd keep it somewhere nearby, and get a number of guys to do the "skunk, skunk" thing. If they got nicked they wouldn't have anything on them.

I don't know if that's how some of those guys operate (aside from the ones who are selling oregano/sage/tea...) but if it is then reporting them, them getting arrested etc, would be a waste of time and resources. I've sort of always assumed that's why the police don't bother with them.

They often stash it behind the poster frames on the bus stops, or in the rim of bins.

The cops know too, because I've seen them retrieve drugs from there.

 

[TopCat]

I would rather be offered skunk by reasonably mannered people outside KFC than vegan food by some work shy crustie. At least those men work chickpea boy.

 

[TopCat]

Also, people are frightened by them DB. They move in the world of guns and knives.

We all live in a world of guns and knives. Still, most violence in Brixton is of the domestic kind so lets not get too fearful of strangers.

 

[TopCat]

tough with these dealer scum

Fucking idiot, why is someone scum for selling weed? You sir are a toal fucking prick.

 

[TopCat]

One example: drug dealers fight over territories. Those fights come to the streets where they work. Innocent people get caught in the crossfire.

Another: drug dealers operating openly gives a strong message that criminal behaviour is acceptable here and the assumption is made that enforcement activity against any criminality is likely to be lower. This attracts other criminals to what they see as a "safer" area to operate.

A big group of criminals (called the police) set the tone years and years ago with their efforts to plant drugs on people, give out beatings, falsify evidence, shoot peoples mothers in the back by "accident" etc.

 

[TopCat]

Finally, I got sold a ten instead of a twenty recently and raised it with the kindly and polite street dealer a week later. I got my top up.

 

[TopCat]

Unlike more recently when I trusted my long term near neighbour who has taken my twenty and not came back, I suspect the git has spent it on rock!!

 

[chico enrico]

Not trying to make a point. Just musing on the difficulty of policing Brixton's street dealers. It strikes me as very, very strange that with all the cameras and officers at their disposal the police seem to be unable to stop such open street dealing.

just out of interest, are these 'street dealers' actually selling drugs or are they just blaggers out to rip off turnip-heads?

walk up camden high street any day and you'll have 20 folk offer you every drug under the sun.

none of them are selling drugs. they're just there to rip off students and naive fools. the real dealers you'd never notice in a million years.

 

[TopCat]

just out of interest, are these 'street dealers' actually selling drugs or are they just blaggers out to rip off turnip-heads?

walk up camden high street any day and you'll have 20 folk offer you every drug under the sun.

none of them are selling drugs. they're just there to rip off students and naive fools. the real dealers you'd never notice in a million years.

Very rarely have I been ripped at the bus stop. Teeny tiny deals that you have to haggle over like a tourist in Tangier but not ripped off.

PS< Brixton does not attract the same student just arrived types that Camden seems to exist for.

 

[chico enrico]

PS< Brixton does not attract the same student just arrived types that Camden seems to exist for.

ah yes, "the walking wallets to be plundered by the quick of wit and quicker of hand" as Danny put it.

 

[TopCat]

The way it works is that you arrive, think camden is the bees knees, live there, then quickly tire of life, then move to Brixton and start complaining about people saying skunk near you. Personally I find adverts more intrusive and offensive whilst I am waiting for a bus.

 

[ajdown]

It's a bit of a mystery to me why you choose to live in Brixton, if you dislike it so much?

Actually it's not by choice. But it's a long story I need not repeat.

I don't dislike Brixton per se ... there are just things like being harrassed by drug dealers in the street that I would get rid of if it was up to me.

 

[ajdown]

Fucking idiot, why is someone scum for selling weed? You sir are a toal fucking prick.

And you can't spell. But that's besides the point.

Drug dealing, taking and growing your own for that matter, is illegal under British Law as it stands right now. You can't spin that any other way.
It doesn't matter that weed might be 'fairly harmless', but that doesn't change the legal perspective.

Drugs, and the crime often associated with it, are a blight upon the community at large, and does not just affect those who decide to directly buy/sell. Many drug addicts - not just weed but harder stuff - have to turn to crime to get the money to fund their habit. That not only makes places less desireable to live, but also lowers house prices too.

So, in all honesty, my original statement still stands, and if I chose to use profanities to emphasise my point it would have been worded much stronger.

 

[teuchter]

I don't dislike Brixton per se ...

Getting rid of the dealers would make Brixton vaguely pleasant, therefore it's a good reason to let them stay....?

I know I haven't been around these parts long, but that has to be the biggest heap of bollocks I've read so far.

If Brixton turning nice would upset you, I'm sure there are other shitholes around London that would gladly have you living in as another target for burglary, mugging, stabbing, shooting etc etc.

If you don't want people to think you're just trolling, at least try and be a bit consistent.

 

[jæd]

And you can't spell. But that's besides the point.

Drug dealing, taking and growing your own for that matter, is illegal under British Law as it stands right now. You can't spin that any other way.
It doesn't matter that weed might be 'fairly harmless', but that doesn't change the legal perspective.

Drugs, and the crime often associated with it, are a blight upon the community at large, and does not just affect those who decide to directly buy/sell. Many drug addicts - not just weed but harder stuff - have to turn to crime to get the money to fund their habit. That not only makes places less desireable to live, but also lowers house prices too.

So, in all honesty, my original statement still stands, and if I chose to use profanities to emphasise my point it would have been worded much stronger.

I wonder what forms and applications I need to complete to open my Popcorn + Deckchairs franchise on Brixton High Street. Will I need protection money from the Street Dealers, etc...?

 

[teuchter]

And you can't spell. But that's besides the point.

Drug dealing, taking and growing your own for that matter, is illegal under British Law as it stands right now. You can't spin that any other way.
It doesn't matter that weed might be 'fairly harmless', but that doesn't change the legal perspective.

Drugs, and the crime often associated with it, are a blight upon the community at large, and does not just affect those who decide to directly buy/sell. Many drug addicts - not just weed but harder stuff - have to turn to crime to get the money to fund their habit. That not only makes places less desireable to live, but also lowers house prices too.

So, in all honesty, my original statement still stands, and if I chose to use profanities to emphasise my point it would have been worded much stronger.

So... if the street dealers in Brixton are magically disappeared,

Drugs, and the crime often associated with it, are a blight upon the community at large, and does not just affect those who decide to directly buy/sell. Many drug addicts - not just weed but harder stuff - have to turn to crime to get the money to fund their habit. That not only makes places less desireable to live, but also lowers house prices too.

All of this will be magically disappeared as well, will it?

 

[detective-boy]

You misunderstand the nature of the local violence. Unlike, say, Swindon, where chavs will administer a kicking to random targets purely for amusement, Brixton violence tends to be personal. It's usually gang-related or triggered by perceived disrespect. Innocent passers-by are rarely affected. (I can only think of one exception - the Polish woman in New Cross who was killed by a stray bullet.) I feel safer around here than in many parts of Britain. In fact I only know of one person who's been mugged in the three years I've lived here. There are so many cameras and police that street robbery can't be a very viable career option.

There is random violence in all parts of London, just as in provincial towns.

There are hundreds of street robberies and thefts from people every day.

These offences tend to "disappear" amongst the millions of people milling around London everyday whereas they stand out (and make the news) in somewhere like Swindon.

All your personal experience "proves" is that you don't know a lot of victims.

 

[detective-boy]

A big group of criminals (called the police) set the tone years and years ago with their efforts to plant drugs on people, give out beatings, falsify evidence, shoot peoples mothers in the back by "accident" etc.

ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

 

[TopCat]

Your an ugly total fucking prick who should fuck off back to mummies before you get a wake up.

And you can't spell. But that's besides the point.

Drug dealing, taking and growing your own for that matter, is illegal under British Law as it stands right now. You can't spin that any other way.
It doesn't matter that weed might be 'fairly harmless', but that doesn't change the legal perspective.

Drugs, and the crime often associated with it, are a blight upon the community at large, and does not just affect those who decide to directly buy/sell. Many drug addicts - not just weed but harder stuff - have to turn to crime to get the money to fund their habit. That not only makes places less desireable to live, but also lowers house prices too.

So, in all honesty, my original statement still stands, and if I chose to use profanities to emphasise my point it would have been worded much stronger.

 

[TopCat]

ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Cherry Groce, Operation Swamp, at least you all got a doing in 1985...