Policing UK 2013 - Police Federation

THE ROLE OF POLICE
“Crackdowns can be highly visible
and may be publicly appealing, but
have been shown to be ineffective
and may increase overall harms.”
Similarly, approaches to tackling the
crime committed by drug-dependent
offenders, which seeks to divert them into
treatment to deal with their underlying
problems, have been shown to reduce their
offending. In Brighton, an intelligenceled
approach to identify drug-dependent
street dealers, called Operation Reduction,
has reduced acquisitive crime and helped
offenders overcome their addiction. 7
The Drug Interventions Programme
in England & Wales uses drug testing
to identify drug-dependent offenders
and provide them with the option of
treatment and has shown reductions in
offending following engagement with the
programme. 8 The Integrated Offender
Management system, which pro-actively
monitors prolific offenders, builds on this
and earlier prolific and priority offender
schemes.
Moving up the chain
Policing recreational drug use often
receives less attention but the majority
of drug offences are cannabis possession
offences. Stop and search for drugs is
responsible for about half of all stop
and search activity and the differential
impact on ethnic minorities can have a
negative impact on community relations. 9
Increasingly in other countries, police
take a relaxed view about pursuing
cannabis users. 10
With drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy,
most used in nightlife settings alongside
consumption of alcohol, action relating
to these drugs needs to be incorporated
within policing of the night-time economy.
Preventative and problem-solving
approaches, rather than straightforward
enforcement, are likely to be more
effective.
While in the past the focus of
enforcement activity was often on streetlevel
dealers who are easily replaced,
more recent efforts have focused on a
‘street level up’ approach, which gathers
intelligence to lead to those higher up the
chain. Financial investigations to ‘follow
the money’ have also led to successful
prosecutions against higher-level dealers.
However, new challenges are emerging.
Once one supply route is identified
and steps taken to tackle it, new ones
are adopted. The internet is providing
new opportunities both for supply
of drugs and for money laundering.
Profits can be maintained or increased
by cutting substances with cheap and
easily available legal substances. While
action has been taken to restrict access
to some of these, once identified, the
danger is that the dealers simply shift to
using something else that is even more
dangerous.
Working in partnership
New legal drugs are now appearing
with increasing rapidity to circumvent
the law. Distinguishing between these
substances to prove whether or not they
are banned substances requires complex
and expensive forensic testing, which
often shows that what is being sold is a
mixture of substances, some legal, some
not. 11 But police are increasingly working
with trading standards officials to control
retailers.
If this was not challenge enough, the
current period of financial austerity needs
to be taken into account. Intelligencegathering,
financial investigations and
forensic testing are all high-cost, lowvisibility
activities that are essential to the
approaches that have been demonstrated
to be most effective. Conversely,
crackdowns can be highly visible and
may be publicly appealing, but have been
shown to be ineffective and may increase
overall harms.
Sustaining investment in evidence-led
harm-focused policing will require a
concerted effort to highlight the evidence
about sustainable effective interventions.
In conclusion, simple, intuitivelyappealing
options are generally ineffective
and can make matters worse. There is no
easy solution, but sustained communitybased,
harm-focused approaches are
supported by the evidence and working in
partnership to tackle the problems of drug
dependence has the potential to deliver
substantial reductions in drug-related
harms.
1
Pudney, S. et al (2006). “Estimating the size of the UK illicit
drug market”. In Singleton, N. et al (eds). Measuring different
aspects of problem drug use: methodological developments. Home Office
Online eport. Home Office, London.
2
Wilson, L. Stevens, A. Understanding Drug Markets and
How to Influence Them. The Beckley Foundation Drug Policy
Programme Report 14.
3
McSweeney et al (2008) Tackling Drug Markets and Distribution
Networks in the UK. London UKDPC
4
Maerolle, L et al (200) Street-Level Drug Law
Enforcement A Meta-Analytic eview. Campbell Systematic
Reviews
5
UK Drug Policy Commission (2009) Refocusing Drug-related
Law Enforcement to Address Harms.
6
For example, Corsaro & McGarrell (2009) An Evaluation of
the Nashville Drug Market Initiative (DMI) Pulling Levers Strategy.
Drug Market Intervention Working Paper, Michigan State
University.
7
Brown et al (2008) Evaluation of Operation Reduction. Glasgow
Evidence Led Solutions.
8
Skodbo et al (2007) The Drug Intervention Programme (DIP)
addressing drug use and offending through ‘Tough Choices’ Home
Office esearch eport 2
9
Stevens, A. Drugs, Crime and Public Health. outledge,
2011; Equalities & Human Rights Commission (2010) Stop and
Think: A critical review of the use of stop and search powers in England
and Wales.
10
Rosmarin & Eastwood (2012) A Quiet Revolution:
Decriminalisation Policies in Practice Across the Globe. London
Release
11
Baron, M. et al (2011) An Analysis of Legal Highs – Do
They Contain What it Says On the Tin?”. Drug Testing and
Analysis; 3(9) 576-581
POLICING UK | 81