FOLLOWING my recent re-election and with it a strong mandate for change, as County Durham and Darlington’s Police and Crime Commissioner, I am making it clear from the outset that over the next 4 years I will be focusing my efforts on tackling drink and drug related crime and anti-social behaviour.
Drugs and alcohol drive crime and anti-social behaviour. With half of all homicides and acquisitive crimes believed to be drug related and alcohol-related incidents taking up 53% of police time and a factor in 42% of all violent crimes, tackling drugs and alcohol may be the most effective ways we make our communities safer.
As the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners national lead for both addictions and substance misuse and drink/drug driving, I have the power and influence to bring about change locally, regionally and nationally.
As anyone who watched the distressing footage last week following the conviction of a motorist who was sentenced to 17 years for the deaths of Zackary Blades and Karlene Warner. He was found to have been driving nearly three times over the drink driving limit when he hit the car being driven by Shalorna and killed 8 month old Zackary Blades and his auntie 30 year old Karlene Warner who were travelling in on the A1M in the early hours of the morning last month.
Shockingly, forensic examinations of his phone found he had been texting and making calls throughout his journey from Newcastle Airport and that he had even taken a photo of his dashboard moments before the collision, which showed the cars speedometer at 141 mph.
Zackary’s mum who was driving the car at the time after picking up Karlene, an air steward, from Newcastle Airport, bravely stood up in court to deliver her victims statement. Recalling the moment she found her baby on the opposite side of the carriage way after his chair was flung from the car she said “my baby’s future, my future our life together has been stolen from me. I won’t ever see him look up and smile at me again. I won’t have the luxury, instead every second of every day I relive that night over and over again in my head, thinking what did my innocent little boy do to deserve this?”
It’s for mothers like Shalorna and victims like Zackary and Karlene that I will be doing all I can to prevent motorists like him getting behind the wheel of their vehicles clearly unfit to drive on our roads.
Last week I called on all police and crime commissioners across England and Wales to support the British Medical Association commission that is calling the legal blood alcohol content (BAC) limit for driving to be lowered from 80mg/100ml (or 0.08%). England, Wales, and Northern Ireland have the highest BAC limit in all of Europe. Drivers who drink up to this limit are 6 times more likely to be killed in a collision.
I am determined to do more to tackle drink/drug driving because there has been no sustained decrease in the number of those killed or seriously injured on our roads for over ten years. 17% of all road deaths in Great Britain still involve drink drivers and it’s estimated that 60% of those killed or injured in drink-drive collisions are those other than the driver.
That is why I, as well as supporting the BMA’s commission to lower the legal alcohol limit, will be pushing for tougher new penalties for dangerous drivers, immediate roadside bans for those testing positive for drink and drugs and for more investment in our roads policing teams.
Over the next 4 years I will work with residents and partners to make the communities of County Durham and Darlington safer, stronger and more resilient, by tackling alcohol and drug related crime and anti-social behaviour.
