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Tufnell Park residents have been asked by police to report anti-social behaviour (ASB) and people taking drugs on the ASB hotline rather than calling 999.
The Met Police’s Safer Neighbourhood Teams made the request during a meeting with locals on 17 November, citing the lack of police resources as the reason.
PC Sam Owen explained that the police would not treat ASB as an emergency and arrive at the scene immediately after a 999 call because they “lost a lot of resources over the past few years”.
He said: “We would love to get there as quickly as possible.
“It’s not nice to say that your situation is less important, but unfortunately that’s just the way it is.”
He stressed that only when people report cases via the hotline, they are recorded and the council will invest in tackling them.
The ASB hotline was established by the Islington council, which would record the reported incidents on its record and contact the affected person within two working days.
Residents can access the hotline by calling 020 7527 7272 or visiting the website.
He added that police officers are always allocated to other policing reasons like protests in central London, so they cannot “spend as much time as [they] like” in their wards.
Three residents joining the meeting, who refused to be named, said drug users always sleep at their front door and once a child picked up a syringe from the grass.
Other ASB people reported included gangs smashing car windows and speeding on bikes.
Criminal damage offences and ASB, which increased by 29% and 24%, respectively, in 2023/24 from the year before, saw the greatest rise among all crimes in Tufnell Park, according to the local police team.
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