Clubbers snorting coke on streets of Wigan
Wigan's drug culture is to be exposed as clubbers are caught on camera blatantly snorting cocaine in the town centre.
The disturbing images were filmed by covert spy cameras in Wigan Parish Churchyard and will be screened on the next episode of a new channel Five documentary, CCTV Cities.
Camera footage includes a "Wild West-style brawl" involving a large number of female revellers and footage of a bungling arsonist who tries to burn down an Atherton nightclub – but only succeeds in setting fire to himself.
The programme shows the borough's extensive CCTV network and the dangerous situations the emergency services have to face.
Cameras from the show, fronted by investigative journalist Donal MacIntyre, filmed in Wigan over Christmas.
Executive producer Paul Crompton, who comes from Tyldesley, said: "When I used to go to Wigan in my teens and 20s the chemical of my choice was snakebite – a lager and cider mix.
"But in this Monday's Wigan programme we have got people taking cocaine openly in the streets. I found that quite shocking. Of course it is not a problem just specific to Wigan, but for people to be doing it in front of CCTV cameras is something quite unusual.
They went into the parish church grounds where they thought they were in darkness but there are cameras in there too and they picked them up and there were quite a few arrests over the Christmas period."
Click on next page for more ...He said an overriding impression given by the programme is the calm and professional way police deal with potentially explosive situations.
The fight involving the women in the town centre was played to officers several times to show who the main aggressors were. They were able to spot one of the offenders sloping away and she was stopped trying to get on to a late bus.
In another incident a man, the worse for drink, is seen spying on a newspaper delivery van calling at a shop in the early hours of the morning.
When the driver goes into the shop the man puts his lager can down, jumps into the cab and drives off with the back doors still open and bundles of paper falling on to the road.
He was arrested later and linked to the crime because police got a DNA match from the lager can.
Coun Keith Cunliffe, until recently Wigan Metro's cabinet member for community protection, has already seen the CCTV Cities Wigan episode.
He said: "I think this programme shows how successful CCTV is in identifying anti-social behaviour.
"The instances of drug dealing and taking in the parish church yard is concerning but without the cameras there it would be going on undetected."
Rector of Wigan, the Rev Ray Hutchinson, said: "We have been aware for quite some time of the problems in the churchyard and gardens and we, along with the council and police have taken steps to tackle certain problem areas. This has included cutting away shrubs to try to make it a safer place."
The Wigan episode of CCTV Cities is due to be shown next Monday at 10pm on Channel Five.
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Weather for Wigan
Thursday 02 September 2010
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