Met Police chief says she could call in the ARMY to deal with knife epidemic as she says middle-class cocaine-users have ‘blood on their hands’ – and admits there IS a link between violent crime and cut in officers
- Cressida Dick says there is misery throughout the drug supply chain into UK
- She was asked if dinner parties ordering in cocaine have ‘blood on their hands’
- Commissioner agreed middle-class, recreational users of the Class A drug do
Commissioner Cressida Dick (pictured on LBC this morning) agreed that middle-class cocaine users have ‘blood on their hands’
Britain’s most senior police officer has accused middle-class cocaine users of having blood on their hands as the capital’s knife crime epidemic continues and said she did not rule out using the Army to help quell the violence.
On LBC this morning, Metropolitan Police chief Cressida Dick was asked about the link between drug use and stabbings in London.
She said there was misery throughout the drug supply trail and a direct link between substance abuse and violence.
Presenter Nick Ferrari asked her if ‘middle-class dinner parties’ who ‘order in’ cocaine but do not have to deal with the threat of knife crime have ‘blood on their hands’.
Ms Dick said: ‘I think anybody who is not seriously mentally ill, seriously addicted, who is seeking “recreational” drugs, particularly class A drugs, yes, I think that is a good way to put it, I do.’
Ms Dick said that she does not rule out the possibility but that she would find it hard to see how she could ‘usefully call on’ the military to help on London’s streets.
Nick Ferrari (left) today asked Cressida Dick about the link between recreational drug use and crime and she agreed middle-class users of Class A substances have ‘blood on their hands’
The police chief said a message needs to be sent to people of ‘all backgrounds’ as imports of the Class A drug have increased and more are using it.
She also discussed policing cuts in recent years and said the number of officers on the street has an impact on the amount of knife crime.
‘I agree that there is some link between violent crime on the streets obviously and police numbers, of course there is and everybody would see that,’ she said.
The Met is trying to recruit 3,000 officers, 1,500 of which are new posts. This will still leave the force below the numbers it had in 2013/14.
John Apter, chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, criticised proposals to reduce the number of people going to prison for short sentences.
‘Despite the rhetoric you hear from politicians about being tough on those who carry knives, two thirds of those who are convicted don’t face prison,’ he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
The commissioner (pictured on LBC this morning) admitted that police cuts are linked to knife crime in the capital
‘We have a justice secretary who is saying we need to scrap shorter sentences because the prisons are full. My argument is build more prisons. We need to have a consequence.
‘We need better engagement with young people in this country. That’s at the youth groups, the education system, the social services and so on. It’s a multi-functional approach that we need. It’s not just the police. But some people will need punishment.’
Mr Ferrari also asked the commissioner whether she would consider bringing the Army in to assist in the fight against knife crime, given their apparent availability to assist in searches and other operations.