Dartmouth residents concerned about open drug use, paraphernalia, and theft

Many people in the Dartmouth, N.S., area are concerned about drug use and discarded needles.

Concerns around open drug and alcohol use, porch pirating, and drug paraphernalia in shared spaces are rising among those living in Dartmouth, N.S.

“I have seen people down at the bus stops openly in the middle of the day in the bus stop, up by the stores people are obviously inebriated in the stores to different degrees,” says Dartmouth resident James Crowson.

Crowson has lived in Dartmouth for around 30 years. He says, within the last four to five years, he’s noticed quite a change, and not for the better.

“There’s definitely a lot of it around. You see paraphernalia left laying around, syringes, caps of syringes and condoms stuff like that. Lots of garbage from where people have been using drugs, lots of cans and bottles,” he says.

Crowson says the hot spots he’s noticed are anywhere between the bridge shelter and the Alderney Library, where there are bus stops.

“I’m not so much concerned for my safety, but the safety for women in the neighborhood. I am definitely concerned for them and I am also concerned about the people that are using them, they are often in a bad state. But also about the paraphernalia, there is a small park just down the street that’s meant for children, it’s a children’s park. They leave a lot of paraphernalia there so of course there is always concern with kids picking things up or even falling on a syringe,” says Crowson.

The Halifax Regional Police (HRP) says they are working with outreach teams and stakeholders to address the concerns.

“Anytime there is that activity, that behaviour and drug paraphernalia in spaces where children are around, of course it’s of concern,” says Const. Martin Cromwell.

HRP has dedicated community response officers who are actively working to address any concerns with drug use or paraphernalia being left around the city.

“Lots of areas and parks in Halifax, again both Dartmouth and Halifax are very busy areas, especially this time of year. So again, if an issue arises in an area, we will certainly advise anyone from the community to give us a call and we can get them in contact with our community officer and they can focus their efforts in those new areas,” says Cromwell.

Tim Rissesco, with the Downtown Dartmouth Business Commission, says they get calls about this a few times a month.

“You need to be guarded when you are out and about, particularly with small children and parks and that is because you may come across needles. I know in Dartmouth we have stepped up our needle pickups and garbage pick ups, so we are seeing less and less of it downtown, but it still happens” he says.

Rissesco says there are areas that have been brought to his attention. He adds, they plan to have supervision at the Dartmouth splash pad when it opens for the season on Monday.

“Sometimes it’s out in the parks and if you have a secluded area in a park that tends to be the area where people congregate to use drugs. We tend to map out our hotspots downtown Dartmouth and around Dartmouth and that’s where we center our attention,” he says.

For this summer, Crowson says he would like to see these recreational spaces safe and clean for people to use.

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