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From Dr Rob Pocock
Labour's Prospective Parliamentary Candidate
Sutton Coldfield Constituency
Sutton Constituency Campaign Centre,
46 Rectory Park Ave, Sutton Coldfield, B75 7BN
tel / messages 07767 32 6704
email RobPocock@SuttonMP.org
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MORE CASH TO BOOST DRUGS TREATMENT IN BID TO CUT CRIME
Sutton Coldfield Labour Party's Prospective Parliamentary Candidate Dr Rob Pocock is campaigning
to boost the cash available for drugs treatment services, he told this week's public meeting of
the Sutton B2 Police Division Local Consultative Forum held on Monday.
The meeting heard positive news about local crime rates, with the Chief Superintendent Douglas
Paxton presenting data showing 547 fewer domestic break-ins in the area than last year, and 711
fewer vehicle crimes (a cut of over 40%).
In these two major areas of crime, the Sutton
Coldfield D2 division saw a bigger decline than in any other police division of the West
Midlands force.
Doorstep work by local officers had also cut the proportion of insecure
properties (eg where windows were left unsecured) by 75% over the riskier summer months.
Dr Pocock told the meeting however that he was not convinced the health services were
providing sufficient resources to deal with drug dependency that drove a lot of local
petty theft.
Commenting after the meeting, Dr Pocock said, "We heard at the meeting that over 75% of those
arrested for acquisitive theft have a drugs problem. A massive amount of this sort of crime
is done simply to feed drug dependency.
The police are now doing mandatory drugs testing on
offenders, but we need to get a similar effort into the consequent drugs treatment services.
There is now a general consensus that this is where the big gap lies. It's all very easy to
grab headlines asking for extra police, but if we're not tackling the root problem things
will just keep going round in circles.
Getting people off drugs is the long term answer to
an enormous amount of crime.
It really is a case of 'tough on crime, tough on the causes
of
crime'!"
ENDS
Dr Pocock is the Labour Party's Prospective Parliamentary Candidate
for the Sutton Coldfield Constituency. Law and Order, national overview
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