With the latest results of the vote I will do a series of updates on what we did in the last quarter.  Here is a small snap shot of the teams work.

You said: You are concerned about drugs!

We did:  Drug offences understandably continue to be a top community concern and persisting issue. Drug offences is not only a serious matter in itself, but can also lead to other crime such as theft offences and gang related violence. Through policing the matter and targeting perpetrators, we have seen youths being exploited into selling drugs which leads to an increase in knife crime and other violence. We have also seen vulnerable members of the community being targeted in a process we refer to as “cuckooing”, which entails drug dealers taking over someone’s home address to use as a base for drug dealing activities. 

Two years ago, a study was conducted where 150 individuals who were arrested for domestic abuse were tested for drugs. This resulted in over 85% of the individuals having traces of cocaine and opiates in their bloodstream.  Turning a blind eye to drugs is turning a blind eye to many other crimes that seriously impact the local community. 

The neighbourhood team are doing increased amounts of work around gathering intelligence to target drug dealing operations and putting safeguarding procedures in place to protect anyone victimised by offenders. We are also taking a more robust approach to the anti-social behaviour problem of drugs being smoked at home when receiving reports. We will look to give people a Community Protection Warning in the first instance. 

Another solution we utilise for drug offences and related anti-social behaviour is closure orders. When there are repeat reports of anti-social behaviour at a property or location, the police will discuss with partner agencies if a closure order should be put in place. This can stop visitors going to the address and in some instances expel the actual resident. These orders will normally be in place for 3 months and can be extended for a further 3 months if needed.  Frequently the problems are drug related, whether that is the use of drugs or people being targeted or threatened to sell drugs. At the time of writing there are 6 closure orders in place with properties on Bowerdean Road, Temple End, Olympic Way, Damson Court, Micklefield Road and Priory Road.

As of recently, a stop check on several individuals resulted in 3 arrests and drugs being found in a stash car. 

An Operation in April focusing on Castlefield resulted in 13 arrests (9 for drug supply offences), a significant amount of drugs being recovered, 5 vehicles seized, over £3000 seized and £2000 worth of suspected stolen property.