editorial comment paraphernalia can only guess that the number of fights is down.....

POLICE fear the success of a crackdown on drunken yobs is leading to a new drugs threat among West Cumbrian clubbers.

Officers now say that the number of people being caught in possession of hard drugs like cocaine and the dance drug Ecstasy is on the up.

Drunken and violent yobs arrested because of their booze-fuelled antics are banned by licensees and police under the Pubwatch programme.

The bans can range from three-month to life exclusions.

But in Workington, Inspector Joe Murray said: “We have seen over the last two years since Pubwatch came in, the number of people arrested for violent crime linked to licensed premises go down.

“One of the problems we’ve identified is the fact that possession of drugs is on the increase. People are now being found in possession of a range of serious class A substances like cocaine.

“We’ve run an operation in Workington in recent weeks to conduct stop searches. We’ve had a high profile presence in a number of premises. We’ve been aiming for the pushers rather than takers.”

The Pubwatch team in Workington has recently banned another 14 troublemakers.

An Egremont man, currently serving a prison sentence, was given a life-time ban because of his history of violence. It is only the second life-time ban to be given.

The latest 14 to be banned range from a 16-year-old to people in their 30s.

They have caused fuelled by drink, public order disturbances, violence and been found in possession of drugs.

All have been banned for at least the Christmas and New Year period, while one man had his exclusion increased to 12 months.

back | to top | full article >>