Tackling the consequences of Class A drug abuse

An innovative programme of Drug Testing on Arrest has now been extended to every police custody suite in Essex thanks to close partnership working between Essex Police, local authorities, specialist drug treatment programmes, the courts, the Integrated Offender Management System, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Police and Crime Commissioner for Essex. The programme aims to increase the number of people seeking treatment for Class A drug misuse and thereby reduce their re-offending, leading to fewer victims of crime. In 2013, a pilot programme was conducted in police custody in Chelmsford to test arrested suspects for the use of Class A drugs. A positive test for a banned substance triggered early intervention with drug users to address their use of illegal substances and any links to criminal behaviour. During the Chelmsford pilot, 600 people were tested following arrest, of whom 25 per cent were found to be positive for Class A drug use. Around 65 per cent of those who tested positive agreed to enter a treatment programme. The Chelmsford pilot project was funded with £16,000 from the PCC for Essex, and money from Essex County Council Public Health, the Essex Drug and Alcohol Action Team and Safer Essex, and led to a successful bid for central government funding to expand the programme. In the summer of 2014, Essex Police was awarded £718,000 by the Home Office to enable this roll out, supported by funding from Essex County Council (£322,000), Thurrock Council (£80,000), Southend-on-Sea Borough Council (£100,000) and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Essex (£372,000). The total funding available amounts to around £1.3million each year for a two year period. Figures for the single month of April 2015 show that 270 drug tests after arrest were conducted in Essex Police custody suites. 117 (43 per cent) of the people tested were positive for opiates and /or crack cocaine. Of these, 78 people (67 per cent) had been arrested on suspicion of shoplifting.