DRINK LINK TO CITY'S CRIME WORSE THAN DRUGS PROBLEM: POLICE CHIEF

Crime in Londonderry will never significantly decrease until the city deals
with a deepening alcohol crisis, Foyle's police chief has warned.

In a bleak and frank assessment, Foyle DCU District Commander Richard
Russell said the drug problems were "nowhere near" as prevalent as those
associated with alcohol.

Speaking to the Telegraph after last night's launch of the Foyle District
Policing Plan for the coming year, Mr Russell said over half of all city
crimes were now alcohol-related.

"At least 50% of all crime is drink-related, be that getting drunk and
getting into the car and driving, going home and beating up partners or
street violence. Alcohol is usually in there somewhere."

Superintendent Russell said that the problems stemmed from high levels of
people who became involved in binge drinking.

"This city has a tremendous nightlife and there is nothing wrong with that.

"But there is a tendency to over-indulge. "Drinking to excess is the
problem and it is absolutely crucial we can design methodolgies to prevent
people drinking too much, ending up fighting or falling down and cracking
their head on the pavement.

"We need to make sure they can get home safely."

He added that addressing drunken violence, such as that displayed during
recent St Patrick's Day celebrations, was now a priority.

"Now we have Radio One's Big Weekend coming up and such events are a
tremendous advertisment for this city, attracting all sorts of publicity.

"The problem is trying to discourage some of the people who go to these
events from misbehaving."

Mr Russell said it would be "crazy" to say that drugs were not a problem in
Derry.

But he added: "It has probably reached a stage where it has levelled but I
am hesitant to say it has peaked.

"If there is a move among drug dealers then it is from cannabis to cocaine,
that is a real danger. There is very little heroin or amphetamine in the city.

"Marijuana and ecstacty seem to the most widespread drugs used here and a
small amount of cocaine. It is very rare to see anything other than that."

One of seven major objectives in the police plan will be disrupting illegal
drug trafficking into the city.