A SPECIALIST police team set up to stamp out the crack cocaine trade in the borough has been axed, leading to complaints from residents who say their lives are being blighted by an influx of dealers. 

The unit, called the Bloomsbury Town Centre Team, had carried out late-night patrols of back streets around St Giles High Street, Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road, but was abruptly wound up earlier this year due to funding cuts to the Metropolitan Police.

People living in the area now say they feel in danger at night as the level of drug dealing has returned to levels not seen for a decade. 

One resident said that the withdrawal of the team had left the area without any police presence at night, adding: “Now they’ve gone, it’s open house for the dealers and the addicts.”

It has become a particular scourge around Cambridge Circus and in New Compton Street. One mother, who has lived in Mercer Street for more than 20 years, said: “There is so much drug dealing around Cambridge Circus that I avoid it after dark. My daughter cannot walk there on the way to school at 7am because dealers are still hanging around in a way that is really threatening.”

Jo Weir, who chairs the Covent Garden Community Association, said there had been a “serious increase” in the amount of drug addicts on the streets since the team was disbanded. 

She added: “I’m baffled as to why the night team was withdrawn. Their presence was prevention, their absence has allowed the situation to get rapidly out of control and it’s deeply unfair for people who live in the area, particularly young families and children. The question should be why did this happen and on whose authority? Who made the ridiculous decision that this part of central London, surrounded as it is by community, could tolerate an increase in drug taking, which is a direct result of having no patrols at night?”

A former member of the unit and serving officer outlined the impact of the decision earlier this year in a statement to Camden Council. He said: “These targeted patrols helped to significantly reduce drug-related crime and disorder in and around Charing Cross Road. Regrettably, with recent ongoing austerity cuts in the police budget a lot of these resources have had to be reallocated elsewhere.”

Camden Police did not respond to a request to explain why the team was axed and what was being done to cover the work it had done.