The rise in drug crime in Bristol: Are locals concerned?

National World - LocalTV

As Trinity, St Pauls, and thirteen other areas report some of the highest drug crime figures in Bristol, residents are left wondering: what now? From more visible policing to better youth services, ideas vary. But the goal is the same—safer streets.

Transcript

00:00do you think drug crime is getting worse in bristol drug related crime in bristol has risen

00:08by nearly 70 percent in just one year according to the latest police data trinity alone recorded

00:1486 drug offenses between march 2024 and february 2025 so we're asking people across the city does

00:24it feel like drug crime is getting worse where you live so i live a little bit further out from

00:30bristol we're kind of living about 12 15 miles south out in the chew valley so it's the immediate

00:36kind of feeling what goes on after hours i'm less familiar with really i mean it's it's very clear

00:41that the um the uh the nature of bristol changes from the day to day when i'm in in in the office

00:50to what happens after hours in the in the evening from st paul's to eastern bedminster to southmead

00:5715 bristol neighborhoods have emerged as hot spots for drug offenses these aren't just numbers they're

01:05real impacts on people's lives whether it's walking home using local parks or visiting shops we want to

01:13know how is drug crime affecting your day to day life i would say not from my experience um uh i

01:23admit it i work around the university so that's quite a privileged kind of area um so yeah uh it's not

01:30really the sort of place where you'd expect drug use to be rampant i live in southmead though which in

01:35in places is quite a rough area i don't really see much evidence of drug use though it's rough for other

01:41museums yeah um i mean there's we've got a ban coming up on on vapes um disposable vapes i don't

01:52know quite what that's about but i mean that that's not even drugs it's just glitter but i mean um yeah

02:00it's a concern um just in terms of wondering um where people are at um we i think we're still a lot

02:11closer to covid than people appreciate and and that really messed an awful lot of people

02:16there and i'm just curious to know just you know there's people still coming down from that

02:21so it could well be that this is part of that it's just not to excuse it but i mean with drug

02:27offenses up across the city the big question is why some point to economic pressures other to gaps in

02:33local support systems from mental health services to housing instability there's no single answer

02:40so we're turning the mic to the public what do they think is fueling bristol's drug crime

02:46i i would like to see a greater range of support both from a legislative perspective but also from

02:53support and i think there's a very clear that a gradual reduction in the general services

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