Problem Solving in Princes Court, Ayr - started July 2008, finished January 2009

The problem

There was a high volume of drug dealing in the area and incidences of youth disorder, with young people accessing stairwells for underage drinking and causing general antisocial behaviour.

The aim

The aim of the group was to reduce the levels of antisocial behaviour in Princes Court by restricting access to the stairwells and encouraging community empowerment. Residents were not reporting drug dealing in the area, therefore the problem was escalating with more dealers coming in.

Options to address the problem included:

• Replacing the faulty door security within Princes Court flats
• Deploying a Police Action Plan to target drug dealers and youth disorder
• Deploying Community Safety Officers, paying particular attention to stairwells
• Delivering Crimestoppers Leaflets to the area to encourage reporting of drug dealing
• Deploying mobile CCTV camera into the vicinity
• Collecting names of persistent offenders and where appropriate issuing warning letters.

Outcome

The targeted Police action was significant in addressing the drug dealers, combined with good community intelligence - the Crimestoppers leaflets helped raise the number of anonymous reports of drug dealing in the area. The residents who attended the Problem Solving meetings could see improvements in their area, as they were part of the planning process for the actions.

The results from the Police Action Plan showed crime statistics for Ayr North compared with the previous year were considerably down:

• Drinking in public, down 21%
• Damage to property, down 33%
• Youth incidents, down 17.5%