Blackpool LADS caught up with Drugs and Violence

It shouldn’t really be news to you that like every other area in the UK – Blackpool has a drug problem. Along with it comes a knife crime problem too.

The police call it “county lines” referring the drugs being sourced from outside the county and sold via a network of dealers and runners sometimes as young as 10. One person controls “the line” and others in the gang make a few quid by “running” the stuff to the customer. Easy work of you can get it – and the risk of getting into trouble if you’re caught as a kid – minimal… If you’ve not got someone giving you sound advice in your life – this could be a tempting option to make some quick untraceable cash.

Over the past few years we’ve witnessed first hand how these kids in poverty stricken areas of the town have seemingly been left to the wind as indicated in a piece of graffiti painted on Milbourne street by Manchester based artist Mr EGGz who is often mistaken for Banksy – but has equally important messages to portray about child exploitation and poverty that affect children and children’s services…
Is that a bit heavy to start with? Maybe we should start with a story…

Once upon a time in Talbot and Brunswick.

Hypothetically speaking – Lets say for example you’re a young kid living in an east lancs housing estate and your parents aren’t doing a great job of looking after you for whatever reason… You’re only 10 but you’ve been playing out in the street with your pals getting up to all sorts of trouble and no-one is watching over you…

Through no fault of your own – You end up in temporary accommodation in one of the poorest areas of the UK and you’re stuck there with other fostered kids with similar stories who all need help to adjust. And the only thing you can do is play on the park which is really for smaller kids but is full of broken glass and dog muck and other unsupervised kids of all ages…

So you end up doing whatever you can together – on the streets – running in and out of shops and supermarkets in the town centre – climbing on roofs – setting things alight – getting into all sorts of bother. Causing the police concern so that they issue section 34 dispersal orders meaning everyone else in that area thinks there’s a riot about to happen every time it’s reported….. The police probably don’t have adequate resources to deal with kids – so the order is a temp measure to deter others from going out…

Now the problem further from here is that – there ARE gangs visiting Blackpool from bigger cities at weekends and during bigger events in the town – people who don’t mind overtly talking about and asking people in the street if they want to buy some… stuff.

Working in the night time economy I get to see that – And I also see how the younger kids are attracted to the lifestyle that portrays. Now these inner city “stuff” sellers have started to become regular weekly features in Blackpool – moving in on the scene so it would seem. Getting involved with the youths who wander the town centre at night with nothing better to do.

The Man Bags…

The Valentino Man Bags – The Nike air Trainers – The designer tracksuits and flashy watches…
And the blades…
It’s a slippery slope toward knife crime and worse – and it’s actually happening albeit in small isolated incidents across the town – but for a kid with no identity – It could seem an appealing lifestyle… A dangerous trap to fall into without the right support services and moral guidance with constructive activities to fulfil their inquisitive natures.

It’s known that some unscrupulous gangs from inner cities will use all sorts of tactics to groom and enslave younger kids into their ranks – effectively forcing them through fear of violence or worse – to do the bidding of the gang or cult leader. These people normally control the phone lines that are sometimes referred to as the line by police…

There are examples of cases like this all over the UK where younger kids have been recruited into the lifestyle by having mobile phones – credit and designer goods bought for them – the same way a predator might groom a kid for exploitation. Neither is right and both must be stamped out.

More police on the way

Now we know that Lancashire police are expecting a new influx of officers over the coming months – but will that be enough to meet the local policing needs plus this added threat coming from outside of Blackpool.

It’s clear from a night time economy point of view that police are stretched thin and will only lock people up if the really need to – they prefer to send people home from what I’ve witnessed – even after fights have occurred. A frustration of the evidentiary process perhaps – meaning proper statements can’t be obtained from people who have had a drink – and often memories can be hazy or unreliable the next morning. Is there a better way to deal with violent disorder in public?

Better CCTV coverage in the town centre would fix this to some degree, allowing for evidence of disorder to be presented to officers when sorting out “whodunnit” – but recent investment in cameras went mainly into the award winning stanley park – however they still don’t’ deter local kids from climbing the walls…

And once trouble has been identified – more officers would be needed in the town centre to be able to quickly respond to the disorder. Often the police dwindle in numbers come 2AM in Blackpool.

Now drugs and violent disorder don’t necessarily go hand in hand every time – but these vulnerable kids are walking the street at night whilst all this is going on. They shouldn’t be exposed to older people who could recruit them into a life they just aren’t prepared for. Hopefully over the coming months we can report to you some progress on this – but we can’t reveal much at this point.

More to come – obviously…

Now we’re only scratching the surface here – and we’ve got more stories to share – but the bottom line is – There is a real problem in our town and it’s more pervasive than you might imagine. The police need a real hand dealing with it to help protect the vulnerable kids being sucked into the gang lifestyle – in turn dragging the town into the mud…

Follow us for more on this topic plus exclusive interviews with people affected by the issues we’ve written about – and from the agencies tasked with sorting the issues out. Subscribe with your email address to make sure you don’t miss out on or latest articles on this topic.