teuchter said:
To be fair, neither does the police moving them on, really.
You did ask for suggestions, and the only suggestions that are going to help your situation are ones that involve moving the users somewhere else, which doesn't address the underlying problem likee you say.
Personally, I think I would rather that these people are congregating somewhere in central Brixton, be it Windrush Square or the Peace Gardens, than hanging about in residential streets.
It seems that the whole dispersal zone thing is more about making the problem look like it's gone away rather than actually solving it.
Absolutely agree with you teuchter.
I wasn't saying "Please move them on". My OP was asking "What's to be done?", as an open question. Moving them on clearly does not work, is no solution. If they were to be moved on from my street, the problem would merely migrate to another street. I would be happier, but someone else would be less happy.
Having said that, I am selfish enough to prefer the problem to be elsewhere....
So far as I know, there is no drop in centre or other unit in Brixton where users might go to find help. There ought to be. Someone with more knowledge might put me right on this?
I alos entirely agree with you that things were better and less intrusive when they gathered on Windrush Square. I know some people found them intimidating, but I never felt uneasy crossing Windrush Square, even very late at night.
Also, when the drinking club used to gather outside the library, I was strongly aware that they were a community, that they knew who was coming and going, and that, to some degee at least, their presence was a deterrent.
As for the dispersal zone thing - well it was clear from the start that it would simply move the problem rather than solve it. I believe such tactics were initially inspired by Guilliani's Zero Tolerance campaign in NY. NY is now safer, but the suburbs are now much less safe.
