MPS position on drugs

Report: 9
Date: 24 April 2006
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report provides an overview of the policing-related issues around the supply and use of drugs in London, and proposes a way forward for the MPS in line with the Corporate Strategic Assessment, the Corporate Strategy and wider government priorities.

It report recommends that drugs should be designated as a priority for the MPS in the context of understanding the drivers of crime, where drug-motivated offences remain a significant proportion of overall offences and drug supply represents an attractive area for criminal networks to make money.

Through focusing on the top bracket of highest-offending problem drug users (PDUs), the worst affected locations, and effective disruption and intervention against criminal networks, the MPS will see an improvement against existing crime reduction and Police Performance Assessment Framework (PPAF) measures and targets. Simultaneously the MPS should lead at a pan-London level, with partner-agencies, to address issues around treatment for PDUs to help ensure a sustainable outcome. Specific drug-related targets or measures beyond those that already exist are not proposed, but more detailed performance information on PDUs, and other indicators will be required to ensure that we are focusing on this underlying driver of crime.

At present, the MPS does not understand its problem and prolific offender profiles in enough depth to determine the PDUs or target its effort where it can have the greatest impact on performance. The MPS currently only approaches issues around treatment for PDUs at a very local level and not at a pan-London level, which is where a focus is required. The MPS can also improve its coordinated cross-Business Group and cross-agency intervention in priority neighbourhoods.

This report was presented to Management Board on the 25 January 2006 and the contents accepted.

A. Recommendation

That Members note the report and agree the proposed actions.

• Action 1 Reviewing those on the Prolific Priority Offender (PPO) scheme & prioritising the problem drug users who are also the highest offenders (see charts) for drug-motivated crime.
• Action 2 Focusing intelligence, prevention and enforcement activity on the worst affected neighbourhoods.
• Action 3 Developing performance information for drug-motivated offenders, pan- London and by Borough. Work will be carried out over the year to develop baselines and indicators that will inform the MPS Drugs Strategy and be subject to negotiation with both the MPA and related agencies.

B. Supporting information

Demand for and supply of drugs as a driver of crime

Demand side

1. As reflected in the MPS Drugs Crime Prevention Strategy, there is a well-established link between the misuse of drugs and the resulting harm to both the individual and the wider community. Dependent heroin and/or crack cocaine users (problem drug users) in particular also commit substantial amounts of crime to fund their drug use, which is estimated to cost £16bn a year for England and Wales. There are roughly 280,000 PDUs nationally, with an estimate of 100,000 in London. They are likely to live in deprived areas in urban centres.

2. Nationally, drug-motivated offences are estimated to account for a third of the total cost of crime, and over half (56%) of the volume of offences – this relationship is now recognised in the Home Office’s Drugs Strategy and in the National Community Safety Plan 2006-09.

3. Shoplifting and burglary in particular are motivated by drug use.

Table 1: Percentage of different crimes motivated by drug use (see supporting material)

4. A significant proportion of muggings and other violent crime offences are motivated by drug-use

Table 2: Pie charts of Stranger & acquaintance violence, muggings and homicide (see supporting material)

5. The top 10% of offenders in the PDU category commit more than half of all drug-motivated crime, accounting for 21 million offences per year (680 offences each), which equates to around a third of the volume of all crime. This top 10% accounts for £11bn of the £19bn total cost of drug-motivated crime.

6. Cost of drug-motivated crime, split by top 10% of most offending PDUs and by the remainder of drug users.

Table 3: Pie chart of £19bn total (see supporting material)

7. It is by focusing on understanding who these top 10-15% of PDUs are in London, within the Prolific Priority Offender (PPO) scheme, where the Metropolitan Police Service could make significant improvements in targeting the worst offenders – and improve performance against existing targets.

Issues regarding treatment for PDUs

8. Ultimately we depend upon the treatment services to be effective in order to prevent PDUs from returning to their offending-pattern once released from treatment/prison. While over the course of a year two thirds of PDUs will engage with either treatment or criminal justice, at any one time only 20% of PDUs are receiving treatment. MPS can help ensure those engaging are the worst offenders. It is estimated that for every £1 spent on treatment at least £9.50 is saved in crime and health costs– but only if the treatment is effective.

9. Much work has been done at a wider government level to improve treatment provision (National Treatment Agency, targets for treatment places, PDUs into treatment etc), and to improve case management of PDUs as a whole.

10. However the MPS could take the lead and encourage a pan-London approach to reducing harm from PDUs, with involvement of MPA, Mayor, Greater London Alcohol and Drug Alliance (GLADA) and all other relevant agencies. We would need to establish robust figures around desired number of treatment places, current shortfalls, issues around case management of PDUs during treatment and police involvement in breach of treatment orders etc. Such expertise exists in the Strategy Modernisation and Performance Directorate and the MPS should take advantage of this.

Supply side

11. There exists a steady demand for drugs in the UK and while the price of drugs has fallen steadily over the last 30 years, it remains an attractive area for criminal networks to make money. Focus on the supply-side used to be on seizing the commodity until it was realised that this was having very little impact in disrupting supply, in discouraging criminal networks from being involved in the drugs market, or in reducing harm from drugs. It is now accepted that the most effective forms of intervention/disruption are by seizing or confiscating assets and money, and by targeting and arresting the key individuals involved in the criminal network.

12. It is extremely rare that a criminal network will be solely involved in drug supply, and it is necessary to understand more about their activities to be able to disrupt them in the most effective way. Of the 151 criminal networks mapped in Serious Crimes Directorate (SCD), 100 are involved in drugs and several other criminal activities, while only five are only involved in drugs.

Table 4: Criminal networks mapped across MPD(see supporting material)

13. Of disruptions claimed so far this year, 61% were against networks involved in drug supply. The majority of current operations are against Criminal Networks (CNs) involved in drug supply. MPS seizure figures have fallen over the last few years, though we have had some significant recent seizures through Middle Market Drug Project (MMDP).

14. The challenge is also in coordinating and joining up the efforts in disrupting criminal networks and the supply of drugs at the upper levels of the supply-chain, with lower-level disruption and street level targeting of PDUs. Street Level Up is an initiative aimed to address this challenge (detail in Appendix 1), involving forces and national agencies. The decision lies with SOCA as to how this will progress.

15. Offender management remains a problem with convicted core nominals being released from prison, without us being notified as to where or when, and often they start re-offending. Similar to PDUs and treatment, there is an opportunity for the MPS to encourage NOMS Probation Services to work with us to improve this information flow.

16. Environmental scanning and an awareness of trends of activities within the markets around criminal networks (new drugs, new threats, changing markets) is another aspect of supply-side activity – it is not just about Class A drugs. For example we are currently aware of the potential threat presented by meta-amphetamine and are actively monitoring the situation.

Community expectations

17. MPS Public Attitude Survey 2004 identified that of the 8000 Londoners surveyed, nearly one quarter (22%) thought that drug related crime was a major problem in their neighbourhood. This statistic was higher than for gun crime, robbery or burglary. The percentage of people that thought drugs crime was a major problem in their neighbourhood varied from borough to borough; almost 70% in Hackney, 64% in Hounslow and 58% in Tower Hamlets.

18. The Metropolitan Police Authority and MPS Online Consultation for 2005/06 Policy Priorities identifies drugs and drug related crime as the third highest priority for London, just behind anti-social behaviour and police visibility.

Wider context and resourcing

19. This report is in line with the wider Government agenda around reducing the harm caused by illegal drugs, by focusing on the most dangerous drugs, the most damaged communities, and in reducing the harm caused by organised crime (see Appendix 1 for measures and target details).

20. The overall issue in the MPS is not a lack of resources devoted only to drugs, but a lack of priority given to drugs as a driver of crime, not enough analytical emphasis on our intelligence around the highest offending PDUs and the continuing need to improve coordination and prioritisation of resources across business groups.

Proposed way forward

21. Review those on the PPO scheme and ensure we understand and are targeting the highest offenders PDUs, and of these to be able to target the top 10 – 15% of offenders. TP Crime PPO Units would be closely involved in this piece of work. It also entails working with partner agencies at a pan-London level to ensure effective treatment is available.

22. Taskforce approach (Joint MPS Interventions): closer and more coordinated operational response at levels 1-2, supported by a clearer Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on joint operations between Serious Crime Directorate/Territorial Policing /Central Operations to be established.

23. TP to prioritise, in acknowledgement of identified community needs, the continual low level disruption of drug supply and associated criminal activity in the worst affected areas and closure of crack houses

• Crackdown campaigns over the last 15 months demonstrate that significant arrests for trafficking can be made as a result of an intelligence led and coordinated approach – and help us reach our Statutory Performance Indicators (SPI) target around Class A drug supply

24. Performance information on PDUs and worst affected areas

• Needs to be developed with the performance team

25. Continued support should be given to the establishment of the Central Drugs Trafficking Database (CDTD) that is currently being pioneered within the Drugs Directorate. Current funding arrangements are in place until July 2006; future funding and staffing levels need to be addressed. It is anticipated that by July 2006 SCD operational support unit will be able to provide every Borough Occupational Command Unit (BOCU) with an effective profile of drug dealing within their borough and their level of performance in tackling it. This will be assessed, and may be subject to a separate application to Investment Board.

Abbreviations

ASB

Anti Social Behaviour

DRR

Drug Rehabilitation Requirement

DTTO

Drug Treatment and Testing Order

GLADA

Greater London Alcohol and Drug Alliance

MB

Management Board

MMDP

Middle Market Drugs Project

MOU

Memorandum of Understanding

PDUs

Problem Drug Users

PPAF

Police Performance Assessment Framework

PPO

Prolific Priority Offender

SOCA

Serious Organised Crime Agencies

SPI

Statutory Performance Indicator

C. Race and equality impact

1. All of this work is intelligence-led; criminal networks gangs involved in drug supply are drawn differentially from a range of ethnic groups, drug users and associated crime impact adversely on the worst affected neighbourhoods. If intelligence demands action with a particular community this is conducted after a full community impact assessment.

2. Where there is discretion for arrest as a result of stop and search, activity is monitored through submission of stop and search or stop and account form introduced after recommendation 61 of the Stephen Lawrence Enquiry. This data is entered into the ‘stops’ database where proportionality is monitored at BCU and central level. There are similar levels of treatment for drug users available pan-London.

D. Financial implications

The MPS Drugs Strategy 2006-2009 is currently under consideration and as yet the full financial implications are unknown.

E. Background papers

• HM Government National Community Safety Plan & Policing Plan 2006-2009
• Home Office Documents:
  • Drugs Strategy
  • Tackling Drugs, Changing Lives: Turning Strategy into Reality. December 2005
  • Police Performance Assessments 2004/05
  • Final Report of the Crime Reduction Review May 2004
• Internal documents:
  • SCD PPAF response
  • Criminal Networks Prioritisation Matrix
  • Pan-London Drug Problem Profile
  • Drug Crime Prevention Strategy 2005-10
  • Drugs Strategy 2003-06
  • Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit Drugs Report 2003

F. Contact details

Report author: Anna Aquilina SCD 12, Allan Gibson SCD 12, MPS

For more information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

Appendix 1

Further detail on drug-motivated crime levels, PDU research required

In order to effectively target problematic drug users more research is required to give a more accurate estimate of the number of heroin and crack/cocaine users that are offending to support their drug habit, both pan-London and by borough. In this way a target profile of the top 15% PDUs can be compiled within the PPO scheme. Analysis is needed to link PDUs and drug motivated offences that will allow us to link success in this area to our existing crime reduction measures and targets.

Further analysis and development is needed in response to the recidivism rates for problematic drug users and serious criminals. The development of partnerships with NOMS and the Probation Services will allow us to develop intelligence on those offenders most likely to re-offend on release from prison.

Current Treatment Programmes

Drugs Intervention Programme, Drug Rehabilitation Requirements and Drug Treatment and Testing Orders

Updated in the Drugs Act 2005

DIP is the Drugs Interventions Programme. This is the government’s programme through the Criminal Justice System (CJS). It was launched in 2003 as the Criminal Justice Interventions Programme (CJIP) and renamed by the Home Secretary in 2004. DIP is designed to target drug-misusing offenders and encourage them towards treatment. Treatment will reduce drug use and therefore associated criminality. “Out of Crime into Treatment” is DIPs catchphrase.

There is a distinction between DIP and DRRs. DRRs are the responsibility of the Probation Service and while DIP can and should help where possible, there must be a clear understanding about accountabilities.

DIP starts with a drug test on charge [now from arrest] for detainees charged with a “Trigger Offence” (e.g. theft, burglary, robbery). If an Inspector believes any offence has a link with specified class A drugs they can authorise a drug test on charge. Drugs are specified by statutory instrument and currently cocaine and opiates.

The drug test result is highlighted at court. The sentencer will consider some form of treatment-based sentence for those testing positive. If the offender is awarded a community sentence that treatment element would be a DRR. The court awards DRRs and the Probation Service supervises them. Police involvement is limited to providing the initial drug test and arresting the offender if they breach a DRR and Probation apply for a warrant. Police have no targets around DRR’s or their supervision although the quality of supervision does impact on local crime if an offender is breaching the DRR, committing crime and is not returned to court.

The Drug Treatment and Testing Order (DTTO) has become the Drug Rehabilitation Requirement (DRR) of the new Community Order introduced by the Criminal Justice Act 2003. The requirement is broadly similar to the order, but can be used more flexibly. Consequently, the need for a specialist assessment of drug use and subsequent treatment has become more pertinent.

The community order has superseded all previous community sentences. It is made up of a combination of twelve requirements one of which is the DRR. The DTTO served to both punish and rehabilitate the offender in a stand-alone order whole the DRR (because it is combined with other requirements) can concentrate on treatment exclusively. The DTTO required a considerable amount of contact, which made it appropriate only for serious offenders with serious drug problems. The DRR comprises three levels of treatment intensity which allows offenders who commit offences of low and medium seriousness and have low and medium needs to get appropriate treatment under a court order.

Taskforce Approach (PPAF)

The Deputy Commissioner is keen to enlist the expertise within SCD in the effort to improve delivery in regards to PPAF. SCD expertise is currently assisting in the development of long-term preventative strategies in relation to gun-enabled crime and drugs. It is proposed that a joint team will be created to support TP in proactively targeting, supported by intelligence analysis in conjunction with BOCUs to ensure key wards and individuals are identified, prioritised and targeted. Further work will also be undertaken, in conjunction with TP, to formulate a long-term improvement strategy.

Street Level Up overview

A street level up approach is part of the CIDA strategy, and has been piloted in four initial areas (one in North London), and declarations of interest has been invited for another six areas, is targeting enforcement activity against the entire drugs supply chain in each area from street level to importation and international supply. The focus is on identifying enforcement approaches and ways of working that will have the most impact on particular local communities.

Performance targets (existing)

PPAF

SP16c ; Number of Class A drug supply offences brought to justice per 10,000 population, of these % for cocaine and heroin supply.

PSA

To reduce harm caused by illegal drugs to individuals, their families and the wider community.

Reduce harm caused by illegal drugs (as measured by the Drugs Harm Index, encompassing measures of the availability of Class A drugs and drug related crime). Including substantially increasing the number of drug misusing offenders entering treatment through the Criminal Justice System.

Internal

Propose corporate measurement, as a sub-measure within the criminal networks objective is ‘Number of criminal networks engaged in drug activity disrupted’. Target to be decided against current benchmark data for this year.

Current Resource allocation dedicated to drugs

Drugs Directorate

This comprises twelve (12) staff and deals with intelligence, prevention and limited aspects of enforcement. Most of the work is policy orientated with a limited enforcement capacity. However, it does serve to co-ordinate successful crackdown campaigns and ad hoc operations where appropriate.

Middle Market Drugs Project

This comprises seventy-two (72) officers made up of staff from the MPS, Customs, City of London Police and the National Criminal Intelligence Service. The unit responds to intelligence in order to dismantle networks that operate within the middle level of the Class 'A' drugs market. The unit has enjoyed phenomenal success this year with over 138 arrests, of which 108 have been charged with drug trafficking offences.

Seizures include 266 kilograms of cocaine, 6 kilograms of crack cocaine, 58 kilograms of heroin, 42 kilograms of amphetamine and 3 tonnes of cannabis.

Controlled Deliveries Unit

This Unit is based in SCD3(4) and was set up in 2002. In fact, the name ‘Controlled Deliveries Unit’ is misleading. The tactic the Unit employs is more accurately described as a ‘clean delivery’. Briefly, the Unit investigates cases where controlled drugs have been imported via the postal system and detected by postal operators and Revenue and Customs. Although the Unit comprises only two staff members, it has engineered over 200 successful ‘clean deliveries’ that have resulted in the arrests and imprisonment of 150 persons. SCD will be altering the terms of reference for this unit to bring into line with the wider criminal networks strategy and develop it into an intelligence initiative to help us identify key suppliers and end users in order to disrupt the market more effectively.

TP borough resourcing

Differs by borough

Emerging trends

Methamphetamine

This is a synthetic drug with a harm potential similar to that of crack cocaine. The MPS are currently seeking intelligence on the manufacture and use of the drugs and play a leading role in the recently formed ACPO national working group on methamphetamine

Cannabis Hydroponics factories

The involvement of Vietnamese criminal networks in the large-scale manufacture of cannabis has increase dramatically in the last 12 months, with more than 300 ‘factories’ being detected in London since April 2005. Three murders, money laundering on a large-scale and organised immigration crime is also being targeted, and measured via the disruption of criminal networks.

Precursor chemicals

Precursors are monitored and controlled to try to limit the ability to manufacture synthetic or other illegal drugs in the UK. Since August 2005, chemical companies (950 in London) are required to disclose suspicious transactions involving specified chemicals. SCD3(3) are already experiencing a large increase in disclosures being sent to the MPS Controlled Drugs Inspection Team.

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