Working together to beat the blight of drugs in our city
A WARNING about a dangerous batch of heroin on the streets of Peterborough splashed across the front page of The ET may not sound like a success story for the police.
A WARNING about a dangerous batch of heroin on the streets of Peterborough splashed across the front page of The ET may not sound like a success story for the police.But for Detective Chief Inspector Gary Goose, the fact the problem was raised by health workers and could then be investigated and publicised is an example of how a more joined-up approach to tackling drugs is working well.
And as the Cambridgeshire force's new lead officer on drugs intervention, helping to build that sort of co-operation between the different agencies involved is one of his aims.
Referring to our story last month about heroin circulating in the city which had been "cut" dangerously with anxiety medication benzodiazepine, he said: "The police project lead who works with me around drug intervention has done work with the hospital in terms of awareness of illegal drugs, and it began receiving an increase in heroin overdoses, which the routine treatment didn't seem to be working for.
"So the hospital contacted us and our intelligence officers asked their sources questions, and the Drug and Alcohol Action Team (DAAT ) and the drug service providers did the same.
"Information came back, and we have been able to identify what was mixed with the heroin, and the hospital has been able to amend its treatment so it can save lives.
"That's about as good an example of joined-up working as you are going to get."
DCI Goose was one of the deputy senior investigating officers on the Soham murders case and was in charge of liaison with the families of victims Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.
After spending the last four years on "very difficult" work probing misconduct and criminal allegations made about other officers for the force's Professional Standards Department, he has now taken up the reins as Cambridgeshire's strategic lead for the Drugs Intervention Programme.
A national, 10-year campaign, it involves not just enforcement by the police, but education for youngsters and treatment for users.
DCI Goose, despite his 27 years as an officer, is the first to admit good police work alone is not the answer to the menace of illegal drugs.
He said: "Too many times we have arrested people for substantial series of house burglaries – and they have been kids in their mid to late teens – who have then gone into prison without any form of treatment, come out and started again.
"But if they start a treatment programme and continue it in prison, when they come out, there's more of a chance of long-term success.
"The two biggest reasons people re-offend when they come out are lack of accommodation and lack of a job. So if they also have the chance to get back into work and have suitable accommodation, all the evidence suggests that will prevent re-offending.
"If they don't, more people will have their houses burgled and their cars stolen and, tragically, be seriously injured when they are robbed."
In Peterborough, the effort to break the link between crime and drug use involves mandatory testing after arrests for crimes such as theft and drugs offences. Suspects can also be tested if a police inspector believes drugs may have played some part in an alleged offence.
The scheme was introduced in the city about two years ago to highlight those who were offending because of substance misuse.
DCI Goose said: “In June, 99 per cent of people that were arrested and could have been tested, were tested. It’s regularly about 95 per cent, so no matter how busy we are at the station, we think that testing is important enough to make sure that it doesn’t drop off.”
The jury will remain out for a while yet on whether testing and treatment helps reduce re-offending.
“The evidence suggests it will,” said DCI Goose hopefully.
All this talk of co-operation between agencies and treatment of users may sound like a soft option compared with no-nonsense police operations to knock down doors and break up drug-dealing rings.
But what the police call “pro-active” work continues unabated, DCI Goose said, as demonstrated by Operation Abolish.
A crackdown on the trade in Class A drugs in Peterborough, it saw dealers harried by a series of raids launched last summer.
Among those convicted afterwards for peddling heroin and crack cocaine was Ian Gordon, of Cromwell Road, Millfield, Peterborough, who was jailed for five years and seven months in September last year.
And Fernando Gama, also of Cromwell Road, was imprisoned for three-and-a-half years the following month after admitting seven counts of supplying heroin.
DCI Goose said more of the same would come to those making money out of their rackets.
He said: “We want to be tough on people dealing drugs and will push the Crown Prosecution Service to secure substantial sentences.
“They should be aware of the consequences of being caught, because we are after them and have some really good, professional police officers who will disrupt their activities.”
And that includes those who run the cannabis “factories” which have proliferated in Peterborough – ordinary houses stripped of furniture and fitted out with lights and transformers for the cultivation of the drug, with the electricity meter often bypassed dangerously.
The police have had great success in raiding such properties, often catching the “gardeners” who look after the crops at the scene, even if the people ultimately behind the operations may not be so easy to find.
DCI Goose said the bigger fish were nonetheless a target for the county force and its colleagues in the Serious Organised Crime Agency – and with good reason.
He added: “The decision to downgrade cannabis to Class C was taken for all the right reasons at the time, but with the development of ‘skunk’ as a product, it has got much stronger than the old-style ‘weed’ that people used to smoke.
“The research now speaks of a higher level of psychosis (in users), so the health issues are different to when it was downgraded.
“I think I would support reclassification (back to Class B) because of those issues.”
Asked how he would measure success in his new job, DCI Goose said: “I would like an increase in the number of success stories – people that have been offenders who have changed course because of work that has been done with them by the drug services.
“The police don’t do that work – we can just signpost people towards it.”
Finally, he stressed the drug problem was no worse in this area than in other comparable cities.
He said: “I live here, like living here, have brought up three children here and still think it’s a good place to live and work.
“If I had any doubt about that, I would move out.”
n If you have any information on illegal drugs, call the police on 0845 456 4564, or contact your neighbourhood policing team through the force website at www.cambs.police.uk
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Monday 15 March 2010
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