and wales represent a 3.8% increase on the previous year. the trade in illegal drugs has increasingly been blamed for rising levels of violence in towns and cities across britain. in the seaside community of rhyl in north wales, research by bbc news shows that violent crime increased for four years before the pandemic, with drug gangs playing a significant part, as our social affairs correspondent michael buchanan reports. they caught three people injecting there the other day. weekend patrol in the most violent neighbourhood in wales. shouting. i did not step forward! as covid restrictions ease, there is fear here, as elsewhere, that serious crime will increase. violent crime, for a long time in rhyl, was linked to the night time economy.
showed the country continued to record more drug related deaths than any other country in europe. well, in the seaside community of rhyl in north wales, research by bbc news shows that violent crime increased for four years before the pandemic, with drug gangs playing a significant part, as our social affairs correspondent michael buchanan reports. they caught three people injecting there the other day. weekend patrol in the most violent neighbourhood in wales. shouting. i did not step forward! as covid restrictions ease, there is fear here, as elsewhere, that serious crime will increase. violent crime, for a long time in rhyl, was linked to the night time economy. assaults and beatings and stabbings a consequence of drinking too much, often at the weekend.
it is in afghan hands. they are desperate to seize a provincial capital to get them notjust territory but a psychological boost. the word from afghan forces is the war is not over yet. borisjohnson has said levelling up the poorest parts of the uk should start with tackling crime. one of the areas worst affected is rhyl in north wales, where serious violence rose for four years until the first coronavirus lockdown. the town has some of the most deprived neighbourhoods in wales, and is hoping to win new government funding. our social affairs correspondent, michael buchanan, has been to visit. weekend patrol in the most violent neighbourhood in wales. he said he was going to punch me. i did not step forward.
deprived neighbourhoods in wales, coronavirus lockdown. the town has some of the most deprived neighbourhoods in wales, and is hoping to win new government funding. our social affairs correspondent, michael buchanan, has been to visit. weekend patrol in the most violent neighbourhood in wales. he said he was going to punch me. i did not step forward. we re not getting anywhere now. as covid restrictions ease, there is fear here, as elsewhere, that serious crime will increase. cutting crime is the centrepiece of the government s efforts to reduce regional inequalities. doing so here in rhyl is not straightforward. tackling crime doesn tjust mean flooding the area with extra police officers. for me it would be using the levelling up money to tackle the underlying causes of crime. rhyl, and certainly the town centre and the west part of rhyl does have long standing issues with unemployment. for me, those issues of social deprivation are inextricably linked to the violent crime issues that