WAR ON VICE AND DRUGS HOTS UP

THE vice and drugs problem in an area of Northampton can be beaten,
says the police sergeant in charge of the crackdown.

For years, Spring Boroughs and Semilong, particularly around the
Grafton industrial estate, have been plagued by prostitutes, kerb
crawlers and drug dealers.

And Sgt Mark McDonnell, who heads the multi-agency crackdown on crime
and anti-social behaviour in the area, said: "My perception is that
the crime and vice problem in Spring Boroughs and Semilong is now as
bad as it has ever been."

Sgt McDonnell, manager of the crime-busting Caspar project, said:
"We are trying to police vice on an ad-hoc basis. Northamptonshire
Police doesn't have a vice squad, it is the responsibility of the
sector that covers it [the area] and they cannot cope with it."

But Sgt McDonnell insisted there were many reasons to be optimistic
and promised vice and drugs could be beaten if the community pulled
together.

He said beat officers had recently worked on late night vice
operations and said CCTV cameras would produce results in tracking
kerb crawlers.

The industrial estate was not a tolerance zone, he said, and the
setting up of one was =E2=80=9Cnot an option=E2=80=9D.

Mr McDonnell was speaking earlier this week to about 40 people at a
meeting of the Semilong Community Forum (SCF), set up to improve the
district.

He said he wanted to be "absolutely honest" about the issues
facing people living in the area.

He said he had been tasked with combating vice during the last year
and had seen up to a 28 per cent reduction in crime.

Mr McDonnell was then moved to take over the crime and anti-social
behaviour partnership this year (Caspar) and was not replaced on the
vice beat.

Chief Supt Ken Willis, Northampton area commander, said more could be
done to tackle vice and drug crime if police were better resourced,
but insisted crimes could not be separated into neat categories of
drugs, vice and robbery.

"I think the days have gone where we should just focus on having a
vice squad. For example girls involved in prostitution are generally
very much involved in drugs."