Ricardo lives in rue Basse Sauvenière, in Liège. This little alley is the scene of a less than stellar nocturnal spectacle. At nightfall, drug addicts shoot themselves before leaving their syringes on the ground. A situation that the police say they know.
“One day someone va finish by himself hurt with a syringe“, we écrit Ricardo (assumed name). This Liégeois contacted us via the orange Alert us button to draw our attention to the situation of a small, very little frequented alley parallel to the Boulevard de la Sauvenière: the rue Basse Sauveniere.
Syringes on the floor
Ricardo has been living in the neighborhood for a year, but lately a ride of a particular kind is happening daily. Drug addicts there are coming consume their illicit substances pied of the habitations. “Sometimes they are dix. Ils block le passage, leave syringes by terre filled with sang or font their needs.” The presence small metal spoon is also denounced. Ricardo specifies thatil however, never felt insecure.
Ce thatil pointe from finger, c‘is the dirt and the dangerousness what does the presence of syringes that litter the ground: “hereI have from turn around so much il y had of syringes on the floor. With l’summerwe let’s walk in sandals too. And the dogs ? It’s very dirty, yet the place is very attractive“, he laments.
At the corner of the street, there is a restaurant: “Pane e Vino”. The manager confirms Ricardo’s statements. “It doesn’t stop. This is a big problem for the neighborhood. We had peace for a while, but there for two months, it’s incessant”, he outbids. The manager explains that he and his employees are obliged to turn on their flashlight when they have to join their vehicle at the end of service. For fear of stepping on syringes. In general, the boss deplores a catastrophic situation for a district popular with tourists. He specifies that the underground car park is obliged to have a guard to deal with drug addicts.
Ricardo and the restaurateur say have déjà contacted the forces of theorder pour report the problem. Not just. A situation that is all the more difficult for Ricardo to accept since the City of Liège has a low-risk drug consumption room (shooting room). It is located just a stone’s throw from Ricardo Street. “Why drug addicts prefer to come to rue Basse Sauvenière?”, he asks himself, without however finding an answer to his question.
The City of Liège, for its part, gives this answer: “The room is not open all the time. It has specific hours. The room is only part of the answer to addiction problems“, explains Laurence Comminette, spokesperson for mayor Willy Demeyer. The City of Liège says it is aware of the problems linked to the street Basse Sauveniere. “Our street educator has already been there several times to make contact with the population. He’ll be back there soon. (…) It is true that it is extremely disturbing for the residents and the city. It doesn’t amuse us at all. But the city does not have a hold on everything.“
For the city of Liège, the emergence of visible drug addiction is the result of sad events: “For the moment, we observe in Liège, as everywhere in Belgium, an increase in the consumption of cocaine by injection. The police, in their local functions, have been put to the test: attacks, covid, bad weather, etc. We go through extremely complicated periods,” concludes Laurence Comminette.
A street known to the police
For its part, the zone of police explain that “le public peace service carries out daily patrols in all the streets of the center, rue Basse-Sauvenière is therefore part of it and will continue to be regularly.” The presence of consumers drugs harsh In this place is so known to the services of police. “On the other hand, our statistics do not fall under do recent from deal at cet place“, specifies Benoît Ferrière, from the communication department of the Liège police zone.
In addition, faced with drug use on the public highway, the Liège police say they are confronted with two main behaviors: “S’il is in need and disturbs public order, il is stopped. S’il doesn’t encore consumes or about to do so, policemen seize his narcotics and erect and PV. Nos policemen must encore consider an important factor : the addict, is he consuming or does he land somewhere after consuming?” A judgment at the discretion of the agent.
Targeting drug trafficking
More broadly, the Liège public prosecutor says that they take the problem of drug addiction very seriously. Proof of this is a circular from the King’s Prosecutor was issued recently (April 1, 2022) concerning street dealers, for an accelerated prosecution. Her name: “Targetting Street Deal” in downtown Liège, understand “targeting drug trafficking”.
The objective is “to give a quick, effective, but fair responsee”, explains Catherine Collignon, first deputy of the King’s prosecutor of Liège, before continuing “the goal is also to unclog the work of investigating judges, council chambers, and police services with duties that have proven useless by the experience we have of them.”
A case-by-case analysis
In concrete terms, all those caught in the act of drug trafficking will be brought before a criminal court in record time. Under certain conditions and on a case-by-case basis: “We realized that when a person confessed quickly, the investigative duties that were done by the investigating judge often confirmed what they said.” But to clarify: “Be careful, some of these files will not lend themselves to this rapid treatment. If I intercept someone who says ‘this is my first transaction’, but their phone does not stop ringing, then we will surrender realize that its declaration is not in agreement with the elements. So there, we will go through the classic instruction.”, specifies Catherine Collignon who concludes: “We tackle the problem head-on. Quite the opposite of expeditious justice.”