Police Inspector Umer Khan - Drugs kill

Inspector Umer Khan of the Rochdale North Neighbourhood Policing Team

Last week GMP supported a national week-long campaign to highlight the impact that alcohol and drugs have on policing. Excessive drinking increases the likelihood of crime being committing or people becoming a victim. A general appeal was made for more to be done to tackle the harm alcohol causes within communities.

Here in Rochdale we only have to look back to the end of June and the tragic incident where one young man was killed whilst on night out by a single punch.

Government figures show that 74% of people feel its ok to get drunk but at the same time, 75% also feel that doing so is either a bit, or very unsafe.

So why do we continually take part in something that we feel will put us at risk? Added to this is the continuous persona that it is cool and trendy to go out and get “wasted” or “mortal”, something which is promoted daily by popular music and social media. Within this same area we also see a disturbing growing trend that depicts drug use in the same way with images of expensive cars, flash houses and bikini clad women, as though saying “all this can be yours and more.”

What the music videos and reputations fail to show is the real, all too common side of drugs which usually involves misery on a daily basis.

Last week we had a case of a female who had overdosed after substance abuse; officers and the ambulance crew did their best to help her but sadly she died at hospital. Over the weekend a 30-year-old man collapsed and died at a music venue in Manchester and five more were hospitalised, all linked to a ‘bad batch’ of drugs. Our thoughts and prayers are with all the families affected by this tragedy.

Unfortunately calls and cases of this nature are a fairly common occurrence and believe me, there is nothing trendy or cool about finding someone in that state. Some people may argue “well it’s their own fault for taking the drugs”. Some may argue that it’s the drug dealers or even the Police's fault for not doing enough about it. I guess everyone in society should share the blame.

In terms of daily incidents, we see regular evidence of people under the influence of drink and drugs being caught up in the criminal justice system, either as victims or offenders. Drunkenness is associated with a majority of murders, manslaughters and stabbings and half of domestic assaults.

Then we have alcohol and drug-related driving offences or cases of violence involving drug dealers who may clash with rival gangs or be violent towards drug users who owe them money. These are some of the side effects of drink and drugs to people and society.

Figures have shown that approximately 2.7 million people take illegal drugs in the UK, a large portion of them being Class A heroin and cocaine.

A lot of drugs are bought with money obtained through stealing - it is estimated that over £2 billion a year is used in such a way. The only people who profit from this are the criminals who sell the drugs.

Over 70% of those people taking drugs either know a dealer directly or a close friend knows the dealer, meaning that approximately 1.9 million people could quite easily name someone who breaks the law on daily basis.

I am sure most of us have seen people on a regular basis driving around in top end flash cars, always showing off their money and living the “high life” but we never see them getting up at 6am and travelling to work each day. Our initial instincts scream out to us “that's not right” and we feel aggrieved that whilst we work long and hard for our treats in life, drug dealers are the complete opposite.

What makes this pill (pardon the pun) even harder to swallow is the feeling that it is so blatant and obvious and yet the police don’t seem to do anything about it. Although this may feel the case, I can assure you that we are doing all we can to combat this problem but we do need your help. We need people to tell us what they see. With the right information we can and we will act swiftly and effectively.

Take the case of a young Rochdale man, who is now behind bars, who spent his time moving between his falsely claimed council provided flat where he partied each night with drink and drugs and his semi-detached four bedroom home where he parked his £35,000 imported sports car.

Clearly a young man living well beyond his means, claiming housing benefits along with Jobeekers Allowance whilst he sold cocaine to anyone who had the right amount of cash.

Thankfully a good spirited citizen made us aware of this man and only a few months later he was starting a five year prison sentence, his £35,000 car seized and sold, £30,000 in cash from his house seized and retained along with over £20,000 he had tucked away in a bank account.

This week we had the case of the two sisters who pleaded guilty to money laundering after they supported their brother’s illegal drug operation. Many people knew them, before being caught and arrested they were viewed as good, decent people, respected within society. Indeed their convictions have shocked and surprised many. But they knew full well what they were doing, especially when the facts in the case showed they operated 13 separate accounts pushing dirty money from one to another, in order to legitimise the ill-gotten gains and then enjoying the proceeds, by acquiring expensive cars and living a lavish lifestyle.

I guess many people may not see too much wrong with that. Well try telling that to the family of the victims who have died from an overdose or from a so-called 'bad batch' of drugs.

Dealers seem to be respected within their circles as they live off the misery and death of others. How can someone sleep at night in a comfortable bed and eat from expensive restaurants with money taken from victims, whose bodies await post mortems at the morgues and whose families grieve their loss. But I guess conscience is not something most dealers will possess in abundance.

There is no denying the demands on policing to combat all criminality is high. So we have to be realistic in what we can achieve, however, we can achieve more with if we all work together and tackle this issue. So if you know someone who deals drugs or you have suspicions that someone is living beyond their means then I would encourage you to improve the area where you live and contact us, either directly on 101 or anonymously through Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.

Let’s do the right thing.

Have a great week ahead everyone.

Inspector Umer Khan
GMP Rochdale North