A London council has been accused of dishonesty after claiming that borough police had ‘shut down more crack houses than the whole of Wales’.
The bold pronouncement was made on leaflets that Hammersmith and Fulham Council sent to residents last month in which it was said that police were disrupting the supply of drugs in the borough.
But when Hammersmith resident John Mackeonis, 59, confronted the council, it admitted the figures were based on data that spanned 2005 to 2009 and that it did not hold any figures for after 2009.
Mr Mackeonis, a financial analyst, said: “As soon as I received the leaflet, I thought it was quite a curious claim, so I decided to send a Freedom of Information request, and the truth came out.
“It’s shocking and quite terrible that the council could be so blatantly dishonest about something so important as crime.”
The leaflets were based on a claim made at a crime roadshow by deputy leader Councillor Greg Smith, who announced the borough had closed 91 drug dens. However, he failed to say when. In the same four-year period in Wales, 18 such houses were eliminated.
When Mr Mackeonis wrote back to the council following its FOI response and asked for more recent statistics, he was told: “Unfortunately, we are unable to deal with your request as the information is not held by Hammersmith and Fulham Council.”
He said: “I think it’s very disappointing that in times of severe financial difficulty the council should be spending money, which I assume is from residents, on what is basically propaganda, and not even accurate propaganda. There seems to a culture of dishonesty there.”
Cllr Smith said: “Between April 2005 and March 2009 there were 91 crack-house closures in our borough while there were just 18 in Wales. This is what I was referring to in my talk at the crime road show and I am happy to clarify the situation if there was any misunderstanding.
“The good news is that, by working together to target the drug dens and drug dealers, the police and council have consistently disrupted the drug supply over many years.”
