The perils of Brixton street dealers

[gaijingirl]

There's big notices up on Tulse Hill (i.e. outside my back door) saying that people have been arrested for selling drugs and that

DRUG DEALING WILL NOT BE TOLERATED IN THIS AREA.

I assume that this means they'll be back in a week or so (just in time for Xmas!).

What puzzles me though is, that despite all standing around outside my local grocer's, they have never, once, in two and a half years, offered to sell me anything.

I'm white, in my thirties, poorly dressed. I am surely very squarely in a drug-buying demographic (though in fact I don't). What's wrong with me?

These are also my local shops... I've never once been offered anything there either. Talking to the bloke in the shop last week, he seems pretty relieved that those guys have been moved on.... after they did that in Windrush Square it seemed to stay quiet there for quite a while (I think it still is quieter than it was before the operation) I know that some people who come to see me got a bit intimidated by them too. Never bothered me much, but I can see why it would've bothered some people.

Overall I think that the situation is better than a few years ago. I used to always be offered drugs along Coldharbour Lane...doesn't happen any more... although admittedly that could say more about me than the area... as certainly I have changed somewhat during that time.

Interestingly I once was in Brixton with a friend who is a young bloke, about 19... seems to be quite well known around and about, from an estate in Battersea, from none too salubrious background. He refused to walk down CHL with me, saying it was too much hassle. I couldn't understand it. So he did come with me afterall BLOODY HELL.... we were literally followed down the street by every dealer in Brixton (or so it seemed like) and majorly hassled.... clearly a totally different experience depending on who you are/what you look like etc... it really opened my eyes.

These days I tend to get more lewd suggestions from guys hanging around. One day I just snapped and told one of them to have a bit of respect...afterall would he speak to his mother/sister that way? He apologised...and very sheepishly too.

 

[editor]

Central Brixton has definitely got better, but things are much, much worse further down Coldharbour Lane, particularly by Somerleyton Road (which has the honour of being the only road in London I won't walk down late at night - and I'm usually a stubborn bastard about these things!)

 

[IntoStella]

I don't get offered drugs either. Unless I'm with Hendo. What's that all about?

They see you with hendo and assume you probably need them.

 

[Ms T]

These days I tend to get more lude suggestions from guys hanging around. One day I just snapped and told one of them to have a bit of respect...afterall would he speak to his mother/sister that way? He apologised...and very sheepishly too.

Nice one gaijingirl. Might try that myself one of these days (when I'm feeling particularly fierce!).

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Talking to the bloke in the shop last week, he seems pretty relieved that those guys have been moved on....

Yeah, I don't think he much likes having them in the shop. Not only do they put other people off going in, but sometimes they want credit and so on when buying things themselves.

 

[Yossarian]

If I ever found myself so desperate for any drug that I was willing to fuck around with going to the CHL street dealers to get some I'd think about giving it up.

 

[poster342002]

The one that still sticks in my mind was a kid at LoughBorough Junc getting nito a row with a London taxi driver and letting loose with a 9mm Auto pistol from 3 feet away. He let of 8 shots and missed with every one!

What I just cannot understand about fuckwits like that is why they'd risk 25 years in prison over a silly argument with a cabbie.

 

[editor]

What I just cannot understand about fuckwits like that is why they'd risk 25 years in prison over a silly argument with a cabbie.

It's abaht 'RESPECT!', innit?

Some sad fuckers don't realise that 'respect' has to be earned and it runs both ways.

 

[Epicurus]

Ed, isn’t that block full of CCTV? I stayed there with a friend a couple of years ago and I thought that the CCTV covered everywhere and wasn’t there a security guard type of guy sitting in an office by the entrance?

 

[editor]

Ed, isn’t that block full of CCTV? I stayed there with a friend a couple of years ago and I thought that the CCTV covered everywhere and wasn’t there a security guard type of guy sitting in an office by the entrance?

Cutbacks means that the cover is no longer 24/7 and it's not unusual to see the conceriege office empty for hours on end.

A few weeks back, we had the misfortune to have a crack head and prostitute jump in behind us as we came in. With no security on hand to stop them, they were free to do their 'business' in the stairwell (possibly having a piss in there afterwards as well)

 

[kropotkin]

What I just cannot understand about fuckwits like that is why they'd risk 25 years in prison over a silly argument with a cabbie.

As far as I am aware, the actually penalty incurred by a crime has no real effect on the rate of offending- it is the chance of getting caught at all. This is why even upping the punishment to death has very little effect on the rate of offending.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

The CCTV on the estate behind the barrier block is not actually monitored. It's only looked at if a crime is reported....

 

[Epicurus]

Cutbacks means that the cover is no longer 24/7 and it's not unusual to see the conceriege office empty for hours on end.

A few weeks back, we had the misfortune to have a crack head and prostitute jump in behind us as we came in. With no security on hand to stop them, they were free to do their 'business' in the stairwell (possibly having a piss in there afterwards as well)

More false economy there then, but I’d have thought most people there pay rent and the security should be covered by that or services charges.

I don’t know anything about tenants associations in Brixton but where I used to live we had a similar problem and when it was look at in a multi-agency group the council found themselves in the situation where all the other agencies were telling then that it is much cheaper to have a conceriege/security officer on duty 24/7 than it was to keep sorting out the graffiti, repairing vandalism, repairing lifts and dealing with anti-social behaviour and the cost crime, I think it was 3 times less, I wish I still had the report as it may have been very useful to you. (The policing cost were phenomenal, they were only estimates iirc, but included cost for reporting, attending, investigating, court time and I think hospital costs)

 

[Epicurus]

Just a thought, they have Community support officers (cso) now don’t they? (Or they are thinking of bring them in I read before I went abroad), surely it must be cheaper for the police to have an office on the estate (maybe the office down by the main door) even if it’s only somewhere for the beat copper to have a cup of tea or the cso to get out of the rain, I know it’s close to the police station, but having someone there would stop the dealers hanging outside, after all just the one incident you mention in this thread would have cost in excess of £100,000 to deal with and full time security in that office would cost less that that, I bet it costs the council more than that just to deal with the lifts, graffiti and vandalism

 

[beergut100]

As far as I am aware, the actually penalty incurred by a crime has no real effect on the rate of offending- it is the chance of getting caught at all. This is why even upping the punishment to death has very little effect on the rate of offending.

No, lots of more calculating criminals will factor the likely penalties into what crimes they commit. Hence the popularity of 'loophole' offences such as VAT frauds, various credit scams, and smuggling.

But drunks, junkies, crackheads, psychopaths, and the very stupid seem unlikely or unable to think in such terms.

But IMO deterrence isn't the only good reason for dishing out time for certain sorts of crime.

 

[linerider]

Cutbacks means that the cover is no longer 24/7 and it's not unusual to see the conceriege office empty for hours on end.

A few weeks back, we had the misfortune to have a crack head and prostitute jump in behind us as we came in. With no security on hand to stop them, they were free to do their 'business' in the stairwell (possibly having a piss in there afterwards as well)

i tried to stop a couple of crackheads coming into the block a couple of months ago and ended up nearly having a fight with 4 of them,so now i don't say anything.i'm not willing to get stabbed to stop someone smoking a rock on the stairwell

 

[rascal]

I went to an Narcotics Anonymous meeting as a visitor - to do some research. Addicts at there various stages of not having used substances talked and talked mainly of there sheer desperation. Reckon that the bloke who cut the other dudes face cant be in a great state of mind. Three years is a very long time in a very not nice place. People kill themselves in prison. He'll probably come out with a more severe problem then he went with.

It's christmas people, try and be nice.

 

[editor]

Reckon that the bloke who cut the other dudes face cant be in a great state of mind. Three years is a very long time in a very not nice place.

So the moral is: don't go randomly slashing people's faces just because they won't buy the crack you're peddling.

I can't say I can muster up much sympathy for the cunt - after all, he clearly doesn't give a fuck about anyone else.

I wonder how many other people he's threatened or attacked? Maybe he sold the crack to the two fucking scumbags who tried to hospitalise me in Somerleyton Road a few months ago. Maybe he was one of them?

 

[rascal]

Crack causes people to act in desperately violent ways. However, am sure that nobody wants to be addicted to crack.

 

[pk]

If I ever found myself so desperate for any drug that I was willing to fuck around with going to the CHL street dealers to get some I'd think about giving it up.

Word to that.

You buy on the street from CHL tossers then what do you expect?

 

[nosos]

& how pure was it?

some years ago i was told of a young lad who'd come to london for the swp's marxism business. he wanted to get some cannabis, so dandered down to brixton where he parted with £15 on the street for a quarter. he got home to find he'd bought an eighth of wood. there's a moral there, but whether it's "swappies are thick" or "don't buy on the street" i'm unsure.

Both

 

[KiwiBrother]

When I lived in Tulse Hill in '92 it appeared that the crack dealers from up Railton Road were moving in on the hash dealers around Coldharbour Lane and were ripping people off. Some of the hash dealers I dealt with were professional in the way they conducted themselves. It is sad to hear that that professionalism is now hard to find. People should take pride in their work, especially those in the service industry. Crack seems to cause degradation, so why use it? Come on all you hash dealers out there in Brixton, pull your socks up.
But as was said earlier, there are some crazy fucks out there. You could always go to bed at night secure in the knowledge that at least for three years anyway, he won't be getting on to fuck all crack.

 

[ViolentPanda]

But as was said earlier, there are some crazy fucks out there. You could always go to bed at night secure in the knowledge that at least for three years anyway, he won't be getting on to fuck all crack.

You're WAYYY wrong if you think he won't be smoking rock in prison! Our nicks are so fucking porous when it comes to drugs getting in it's untrue.

 

[silentNate]

When I lived in Tulse Hill in '92 it appeared that the crack dealers from up Railton Road were moving in on the hash dealers around Coldharbour Lane and were ripping people off. Some of the hash dealers I dealt with were professional in the way they conducted themselves. It is sad to hear that that professionalism is now hard to find. People should take pride in their work, especially those in the service industry. Crack seems to cause degradation, so why use it? Come on all you hash dealers out there in Brixton, pull your socks up.
But as was said earlier, there are some crazy fucks out there. You could always go to bed at night secure in the knowledge that at least for three years anyway, he won't be getting on to fuck all crack.

No offense but hash dealers tend to be white middle-class folk who drive round in Fiat pandas, not street dealers

 

[miss minnie]

So the moral is: don't go randomly slashing people's faces just because they won't buy the crack you're peddling.

I can't say I can muster up much sympathy for the cunt - after all, he clearly doesn't give a fuck about anyone else.

I wonder how many other people he's threatened or attacked? Maybe he sold the crack to the two fucking scumbags who tried to hospitalise me in Somerleyton Road a few months ago. Maybe he was one of them?

perhaps he was the same chap who knifed someone i know in the head 4 times. the victim, my friend, is one of the most gentle people i know, he gave a polite 'no' when asked if he'd like some crack and got pushed to the ground and knifed for his trouble. (this was 2-3 years ago)

having said that, i've personally never experienced any hassle from the street dealers, in fact they are usually quite polite and cheerful if you smile at them (not too much eye contact, though), but then it could be that they're far less likely to hassle women. or it could be that i once picked up and handed over some money that one of them had dropped which elicited a very loud 'thank you darling, rrrr e s p e c t' from him and smiles from all his mates, so perhaps i got myself into their good books or something.

i reckon that the majority of the regular dealers on coldharbour lane know on which side their bread is buttered and avoid giving any serious hassle, it's likely that serious problems are only caused by rogue elements (for whom i have no respect, irrationally violent people should be separated from mainstream society, asssessed and given help/punishment as appropriate).

 

[LostNotFound]

you just cant tell. any one of the friendly types (who'll have a joke with you during the day) could be willing to mug you given an empty street and the cover of night..

i can think of a few successful street scores (stupid thing to do of course) where i was probably close to getting ripped off or worse

total lottery

 

[Old Stoic]

now ,of course, if you could buy hash at your local petrol station,along side the rizlas there would be no need to go anywhere near the repulsive fuckers.


Frankly community justice should involve kicking people like this to death.

 

[Errol's son]

I scored the strongest skunk I have ever smoked in my life off a guy in the North Peckham Estate a few years back and the quantity wasn't bad either. But the experience scared me so much I never returned. These days, I think anyone who goes down Coldharbour Lane late at night is a lunatic, whether they are looking to score or not. I'm obviously getting old!