Institutional racism in the police?

It's 15 years since I stopped teaching and therefore over 20 years since I sat in a staff room and listened to others discussing a parent who was a'dealer'. At the time I thought they were talking about furniture or second hand goods. They weren't. It was known then, I would imagine it is more common now.

Trisher .Is that a fact .The police don't bother with drug dealers ?At all ?I must check that out with someone currently serving in the police where county lines are a huge problem rather than someone who retired ftom teaching 15 years ago.

David
Your a bit behind the car of choice for dealers. It's now ( and has been for some time an Audi.

Washerwoman
They are not bothering with the little scrotes that sell their drugs on Southend high street ( my home town) or the teenagers whizzing round on their bikes making deliveries.
As has been proved by the huge bust this week ( well done the NCA) they are going after the big boys. Cut the snakes head off, as I say.

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Meryl I agree.Ideally every drug dealer would be cleared off the streets asap.But a lot of undercover work must be done to track the source or drugs to the huge operations who also deal weapons and launder money.It takes a certain kind of bravery to go undercover and infiltrate these gangs.In the meantime I'm going undercover out walking my dogs hoping to see the person who for weeks hashabitually let their dog foul the sane spot each day and offer them a poo bag .Wish me luck !

Annie - yes they're regularly reported, the police have a presence and it stops only to re-start the following week. Our force area was involved in the big operations in recent days to smash the big dealers.
Eloethan's comments about legalising as recommended by Prof Nutt remain an area I'm interested in. Other European countries who took that view seem to be doing much better in reducing the use of illegal drugs, as well as some of the crime associated with it.

Davidhs, your contributions to this discussion are at the very least provocative, I see one was deleted presumably because it was racist. * "Young black males do get stereotyped because the black community is heavily involved in the drug culture"*

Don't you realise the exact same phrase could be made replacing the word 'black' with 'white'. Our local park dealers are young white lads. We have a growing community of Africans who have been granted asylum status. Their teenage lads seem to be very active at the Church and we don't see them hanging round the park smoking drugs. I expect your response to that will be to point the finger at the Afro Caribbean community. Dare I suggest you get yourself off onto some equality training you certainly need it.

The European countries which have legalised drugs, do they
not have high crime rates caused by addicts with mental illness caused by the drugs ?

The "park dealers" round here are white, too, Iam64 and they drive elderly hatchbacks. My children used to know who they are/were and knew where they hung about. The police also knew, but they were more interested in following them up the line.

Well said Iam - we can make no progress in social equality by demonising any particular sector or by closing our eyes to what we don’t want to see.

Annie, we have extremely high crime rates linked to drug and alcohol use, which is much more of a problem in the Uk than in many other European countries. This country seems always to have had a problem with drugs and alcohol. Those 16th century Hogarth prints of Gin Alley etc.

True Iam, my knowledge of European countries crime rates is nil.

Gosh, one or two Gransnetters know a lot about drugs dealing. When I was teaching I worked in a ‘tough’ area and drugs were apparently used by some parents and certainly known about. However my only experience was whilst I was engaged in a home visit to a child about to start in Reception and I was with my Teaching Assistant as we never went alone. When we left the flat my TA asked me if I’d noticed what was on the coffee table. I said I hadn’t, what was it? Wacky Backy she said. I’d never seen it before and had not the first clue!
Anyway, my husband drives a black VW with tinted windows. Is he a drug dealer? No. Is he white? Yes. Has he been stopped by the police in the car? No.
I didn’t know certain cars were targeted by the police. We frequently drove in London when visiting our son who used to live there, and when taking our daughter up for her IVF treatments. We also used to go up to concerts and theatres and stay overnight in central London prior to lockdown. We were never stopped by police.

The number and amount of Class A drugs seizures has gone up but is the increase proportionate to the amounts coming in? It is an enormous problem and needs international co-operation.

maddyone You don't have to live in a "tough" area to come across parents who take drugs. I live in a fairly "naice" area and I know adults who take drugs. The difference is that they're rich enough to fund their habit without resorting to crime. When I worked in London, I also knew some city traders who took drugs, especially cocaine. Some of them had to be on a permanent high to deal with the highly pressurised environment, in which they worked.

I think you’re right Callistemon. As I said, I have little experience of either drugs or the police, but the way to prevent drugs coming in surely is the border force, which I think has been cut back in recent years. Plus good policing. I don’t think targeting black cars with tinted/black windows is the way forward. Maybe I’m an innocent abroad, but why would targeting certain cars help? Maybe the police should target the illegal quarantine raves which are reportedly happening over the country would bring better results, and since there’s no social distancing at these events, are illegal anyway.

The stopping of cars randomly during the lockdown, intended to ask people where and how far they were travelling, resulted in a large drugs haul being discovered not far from here. I'm not sure if it was part of the recent NCA initiative.

Yes I know that growstuff but I haven’t really come across it. I do know two of my children had the odd puff of cannabis during university years, but they didn’t continue with it. They’re all professional people now.

That’s interesting Callistemon.
I agree international cooperation is the way forward.

I once had a conversation with a teacher from a very tough secondary school when my DCs were that age. She said much the same growstuff. The only difference between the children at her school and the ones at my children's school was that hers turned to crime to fund their habit. You also can't tell which children are likely to be involved, a local school realised that when their football captain overdosed.

Having said all that, if the police signalled for myself to stop, in my little Hyundai I20, or my husband in his black VW, we would stop immediately. It is reported that the couple in the car sped away and only stopped when the police pulled in front of them. I have no idea why they would do that. I’m not condoning the behaviour of the police, I think it was reprehensible.

We do not know what was said when the police stopped that car, I am not defending the police but I would like to know the
truth of the whole event, we have seen what the couple chose to make public but not what led up to it.

When the police were stopping all cars coming over the mountain roads when this national park was closed , every car
stopped .

I agree Anniebach we need to know the full facts of the case before judging.

The driver refused to stop, when he was stopped he refused to
get out of the car , all that followed could have been avoided

Annie I think if I were stopped and the policeman had already drawn his baton I would be nervous about getting out the car and I would hesitate, and I'm not a young black man who might justifiably fear the police. What excuse do you suppose they had for handcuffing both the man and the woman?