Watch where you step in Dundee

Needle with drop of bloodGoing to Dundee? Then do be careful are watch where you tread.

Newspaper reports raising concern after 180 discarded needles found in Dundee paint a gloomy picture of what is, unquestionably, a gloomy city.

More than 180 needles were found lying in public places in Dundee within three months, “shocking” figures have revealed. The items, which were linked to drug use, were recovered from the Strathmartine council ward area, which includes Ardler, St Mary’s, Kirkton and Downfield. There were also recoveries in Lochee.

Between November and January, 134 items were found in Strathmartine. In one find, 37 unused needles, 19 syringes and one used needle was recovered from behind the shops on Macalpine Road. In Lochee, a further 51 needles were recovered. The biggest single find was eight used needles on Bright Street, with 10 recovered in Whorterbank.

And that’s only the ones that have been found, retrieved, and counted.

The figures were revealed in the latest Local Community Planning Partnership reports for the areas. Information for the other six wards in the city was not included.

Mapping of needle finds is a valuable tool, to gather reliable information on which to plan and deploy resources, not only for safe retrieval but for the full range of public health, preventative, policing and safety measures necessary to manage deep rooted problems of this kind. It will also inform members of the public, which is not always a good idea as it drives communities into a deep and sometimes irrecoverable downward spiral, and looses votes for local councillors!

However, online mapping can achieved be easily – Ottawa does it really well – and there is no reason not to link this to the national ward-by-ward crime maps published by the Police.

And let’s not paint too bad a picture of Dundee, though having been there many times it can’t be too good either. few other UK towns and cities are really much different, it’s just that detailed statistics of needle finds are not freely available.

see also Ottawa needle woes

 

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