Stop-and-search in Central Park leads to arrests after Class A drugs found

Arrests were made as Cambridgeshire police responded to complaints of anti-social behaviour in Park Ward, with particular emphasis on the park.

Police Sergeant Warren Bottell said: “In November and December we conducted two periods of intensive patrolling in the Central Park area. We had different results with significantly more drug users stopped and arrested.

“Forty-six stop/searches were carried out and this resulted in 12 positive searches, leading to several arrests and one person being found in possession of over 70 wraps of Class A drugs. Also during this time two very successful warrants were executed resulting in significant drug seizures.”

In total, 12 full days of patrols since November 2015 have been conducted in the Central Park area, with stop-and-searches carried out between February 9 and 12.

This led to a man in the park being found in possession of a small amount of cannabis, and a man in Princes Street arrested for possession of cannabis with intent to supply.

PS Bottell said: “Various complaints have been made of street drinking, drug taking and violent crime occurring in the park, making the location unpleasant for park users.

“Since the Community Enforcement Teams were set up on the 2nd of November 2015 I have set aside time for officers to conduct patrols in and around Park Ward to patrol both in uniform and plain clothes, on foot and cycle, in an attempt to provide reassurance to the public and give us some tactical options to catch any wrongdoers.”

He added: “The latest results show a significant decline in anti-social behaviour in and around the park. Many park users had only good things to say about the upkeep of the park and its facilities.

“There is a perception that college students are responsible for causing anti-social behaviour in the park by smoking drugs, but our results did not reflect this.”