No-Go Glasgow? Crime, Drugs and a City Centre in Crisis

Is Glasgow city centre becoming somewhere people increasingly choose to avoid?

A recent BBC Disclosure programme has put the condition of Glasgow city centre firmly back in the spotlight. In this episode, former detectives Tom Wood and Simon McLean examine what is happening on the streets — and whether the problems run much deeper than policing.

Tom and Simon discuss the disappearance of the highly visible city-centre policing they remember from their own careers, and the shift towards a more reactive system where officers increasingly arrive after something has happened rather than being there to prevent it.

They look at open drug dealing and drug use, antisocial behaviour, dispersal zones, homelessness, rough sleeping, mental-health problems and tensions surrounding asylum seekers and immigration.

But the discussion goes beyond crime.

Simon asks whether Glasgow is experiencing the effects described by the “Broken Windows” theory — when neglected streets, empty buildings, poor maintenance and declining public spaces begin to reinforce a wider sense that nobody is in control.

Tom draws on his own experience working with homelessness and addiction services to explain why seemingly straightforward solutions, such as simply providing accommodation, often fail to address the complex combination of addiction, mental health, physical illness and vulnerability affecting people living on the streets.

Ultimately, both former detectives reach the same conclusion: what is happening in Glasgow cannot be regarded simply as a police problem.

Police officers are increasingly being expected to manage the consequences of failures elsewhere — in housing, addiction services, mental-health provision, social care and the maintenance of the communities they police.

As one senior Glasgow officer puts it:

“We cannot arrest our way out of this problem.”

In this episode

00:00 — Cold open: “There’s a time bomb in our city centres”

00:56 — Why Glasgow is back in the news

02:00 — Is Edinburgh experiencing the same problems?

02:52 — The BBC Disclosure programme and what it revealed

03:33 — Where have Glasgow’s city-centre police officers gone?

04:31 — Open drug dealing on the streets

05:02 — Reactive policing versus preventing crime

07:25 — Drugs, antisocial behaviour and enforcement

08:59 — Glasgow’s city-centre dispersal zone

09:58 — Homelessness and Glasgow’s housing emergency

11:36 — Mental health and the city-centre “time bomb”

12:05 — Simon’s disturbing walk through Glasgow during Covid

13:40 — Tom’s experience working with homelessness services

16:42 — Why providing accommodation alone isn't enough

17:07 — The Broken Windows theory — is Glasgow demonstrating it?

20:15 — What neglected public buildings tell the public

22:08 — Are police being left to deal with everyone else’s failures?

23:03 — “We cannot arrest our way out of this problem”

Crime Time Inc. — Real cases. Real detectives. Real talk.

About Crime Time Inc.

Season 5 of Crime Time Inc. broadens its reach across two sides of the Atlantic.

This season features cases from Scotland and across the wider UK — rooted in real investigative experience — alongside deep dives into some of the most infamous murder cases in American history.

Hosted by former detectives Simon and Tom, with experience in both the UK and the United States, including time working alongside the FBI, the show strips away sensationalism to explain how crime and justice really work.

Two crime worlds. One podcast.

New episodes released regularly throughout the season.

Our Website: https://crimetimeinc.com/

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