MANNY had his own name for the cluster of tables and chairs outside his local McDonald's. "We called it the helipad -" he says, while acting out a handshake drug handover. "Because it was where the dealers parachuted in and out.

"But it's gone now. They have taken it away and the guys selling drugs have moved on too, but they are still around, further down the street, walking the way they walk, looking for business."

Manny's not a client. But he knows plenty here in Maryhill Road, right in the heart of what is now the busiest police beat outside the centre of Glasgow.

And he knows the drug dealers have been trying to keep a lower profile this year.

"There are so many more cops around," he explains. "They are always here: on bike, on foot."

The McDonald's – newly revamped and far from dealer friendly – sits opposite a new 24-hour Tesco superstore right at the heart of the BE71 or Bravo Echo 71 police beat. To the beat's north, the Forth and Clyde Canal; to its south, the Wyndford scheme.

Bravo Echo 71, just a mile or so long, has seen official crime figures soar, from a total of 462 in 2006-2007, when the Evening Times began our Crime In Your Street series, to as many as 2007 in 2011-12.

The figure was up 75% in just the last year. Are police worried?

No, because this rise comes after a major two-year "surge" in police activity in the beat, hammering minor offending that senior officers know lead to more serious violent crime.

Almost a fifth of the Maryhill crime beat total is made up of tickets issued for public drinking, which more than doubled to top 400 in 2011-12.

Doubled, too, were figures for drugs possession, from 78 to 182.

These offences were being committed before. The perpetrators, however, were not getting caught so the official figures did not reflect the reality of Maryhill.

Chief Inspector Ann Hughes, who took over the top job at BE71 this year, has led the recent "surge".

She ordered her officers into high-visibility yellow uniforms.

Their job? To use the new intelligence analysis at their fingertips to target public priorities, such as drug dealing, public drinking and anti-social behaviour.

"People see that action is being taken", says Chief Inspector Hughes.

"One man came up to me and said he couldn't sleep because the area was so quiet.

"The biggest changes we have made is how we deliver our business. It's about maximising our resources, using everything we have and being in the right places at the right time, drilling under the surface of crime.

"We carry out actions at specific locations every single day.

"One woman came up to me and said there are more police now than there has been in 40 years, but that isn't true. It is about visibility. I tell all my officers to wear yellow jackets."

Housing associations have part funded a dedicated police team to patrol known trouble spots – and potentially evict perpetrators.

Steve Inglis, of Cube Housing Association, said: "The threat of being told they are being moved away from family and friends can bring a bit of reality to them.

Housing Associations have another big job – they help to find underground cannabis cultivations.

Figures for drugs productions uncovered in the area rose from one in 2010-12 to 12 in 2011-12.

From October 3-14 last year, police seized plants to the value of £328,000 in the Wyndford high rises.

During one incident, a baby was found sleeping in a cot next to a cannabis cultivation.

Chief Inspector Hughes said: "If residents think for a minute that someone is growing cannabis they need to let us know and we will be around very quickly.

"It is also a huge fire risk for residents because they have to keep heaters going all the time."

The veteran of Glasgow's East End – where surge tactics like those seen in Maryhill in 2011-12 were pioneered – knows her patch has a reputation.

She calls it the "Taggart effect" after the TV detective supposedly based at her own subdivisional HQ.

But Chief Inspector Hughes sees another side to BE71.

"One of the highlights for me was the day the Olympic torch came to Maryhill," she says. "There were kids out on the streets at 6am.

"We need to focus on the really positive things in Maryhill and show people Maryhill is a safe place to live. It is about raising expectations and improving the quality of life."

Did McDonald's help by taking away its outdoor eating area?

The officer would only say the firm had been working "very closely" with police.

MARYHILL IN CLOSE-UP

THERE were 21 serious assaults in Maryhill in 2011-12, up from 18 the year before. There were eight robberies or assaults with an attempt to rob, down from 16 in 2010-11.

Police crackdowns on minor offending that can lead to more serious trouble have seen the number of people ticketed for public urinating jump from 29 in 2010-11 to 85 in 2011-12.

Fourteen sex offences were recorded in the beat last year, up from single figures in all of the previous five years.

When the Evening Times started its Crime On Your Street reports in 2006-2007, there were only 22 reports of public drinking recorded in Maryhill.

Last year, as police stepped up their crackdown on the habit, the figure was 401.