Drugs policy

Report: 12
Date: 11 April 2002
By: Commissioner

Summary

A new Drugs Directorate Headed by DAC Fuller was launched in February 2002. 

The MPS Drug strategy is being reviewed. Consultation on the strategy with the MPA will take place during an informal workshop on, 9 May 2002 at 1.30pm. The Drug Strategy will be presented to the MPA at the full Authority meeting on the 23 May 2002. 

A decision on the extending a warning system for cannabis offences across London will not be made until after the Home Secretary has made his decision on the reclassification of cannabis.

A. Recommendation

• The MPA are asked to note the attached report

B. Supporting information

1. The MPS Drug Directorate is working to achieve its strategic vision 'to make London safer by tackling the supply and use of illegal drugs'. The first step was a gap analysis carried out in August 2001. This identified the key areas in which the MPS was failing to achieve a satisfactory level of activity. These were the tackling of middle-market drug traffickers and the provision of strategic intelligence to inform decision-making.

2. An action plan was produced following the gap analysis, the main strands of which were the formation of a new Drugs Directorate within the Deputy Commissioners command to co-ordinate police activity and the instigation of tasks that address the short fall in strategic intelligence and proactively.

3. With agreement of Management Board the new Drugs Directorate was formed in February and is in the early stages of development. Objectives for the directorate have been agreed. The MPS Drug Plan 1999-2002 has been reviewed and a new MPS Drug Strategy is being formulated. The MPS Drugs Directorate will continue to address areas of weakness identified in the gap analysis, in particular the co-ordination of enforcement and policy.

Drug strategy

4. A new Drug strategy is being developed through a series of consultation exercises. The preliminary stages of this have been completed. The proposed strategy identifies four priority areas.

• To carry out intelligence led operations against class A drug traffickers in neighbourhoods with high levels of drug-related crime and where the availability of Class A drugs impacts significantly upon communities.
• To ensure that identified drug traffickers and users are effectively delivered to justice and that the proceeds of drug trafficking are rigorously pursued in order to maximise the confiscation of assets.
• To develop a common understanding of drug related problems and thereby enhance the MPS' contribution to drug awareness, education and prevention programmes.
• To engage in intelligence led activity with local partners to ensure an effective multi- agency response to drug related problems affecting communities.

5. The MPS Drug Strategy Seminar took place on 11 March 2202, financed by the GLA. The purpose of the seminar was to develop the first draft of the strategy, to ensure that it was broadly in line with our partners' expectations, by explaining the proposals and discussing them with a wide group of strategic level drug agency and law enforcement partners including the MPA.

6. Attendees included The National Treatment Agency, GLA, National Crime Squad, Association of London Government, Drug Prevention Advisory Service, London Drug Policy Forum, London Health Commission, Home Office, HM Customs and Excise, Neighbourhood Renewal Unit. Three members of the MPA attended, Richard Sumray, Cecile Lothian, Abdal Ullah.

7. Presenting the proposed strands of the strategy to partner agencies in this way was seen as an innovative way of developing strategy. The main strands of the strategy were supported. The consultation showed that participants were keen to develop the concept of multi-agency enforcement initiatives in which other agencies would act as genuinely equal partners in police enforcement initiatives.

8. Further discussion about the development of partnership took place during the seminar. The fact that London does not currently have a strategic body for drug issues was debated and the view expressed that this hampers co-ordination of drug policy across agencies. The MPA members present at the seminar have indicated that they will support DAC Fuller in making representation to Government Office for London to develop a strategic forum on this point.

9. The views expressed will now be considered further, in developing the strategy document. A new draft of the strategy is in the process of being formulated, which will then be subject to an extensive consultation process with BOCU Commanders. They will be asked to consult their Drug Action Teams before formulating their responses.

10. A revised version of the strategy will then be presented to the MPA for consultation purposes in an informal workshop. This will take place on 9th May 2002 at New Scotland Yard. It is anticipated that a final draft of the strategy document will be presented to before the full Authority meeting 23rd May 2002.

11. An action plan will then be developed to address the strands of the strategy, showing the priorities, performance measures and accountability.

Lambeth cannabis warning pilot

12. The Lambeth pilot is now being closely monitored by the Drugs Directorate and responses to the evaluation and any future action or press releases are being directly overseen by the Head of the Drug Directorate DAC Michael Fuller.

13. An evaluation by the MPS Consultancy Group has been completed (Appendix 1; see Supporting material). A summary of the internal evaluation has been provided to the press, at the same time as the findings of the Police Foundation made their report available.

14. The main points of the initial findings were:

• Lambeth officers issued 450 warnings.
• At least 1350 hours of officer time saved (by avoiding custody procedures and interviewing time), equivalent to 1.8 full-time officers.
• A further 1150 hours of CJU staff time was released by avoiding case file preparation.

15. Comparison with the same 6 months in 2000:

• Lambeth officers recorded 35% more cannabis possession offences.
• 11% more for trafficking of cannabis.
• In adjoining Boroughs possession offences fell by 4% and trafficking fell by 34%.
• Lambeth also increased its activity against Class A drugs relative to adjoining boroughs.

16. The Police Foundation 'public attitude survey' published on 21 March showed:

• 83% of residents in Lambeth supported the scheme.
• 36% of residents of Lambeth residents supported the scheme outright.
• an additional 47% supported the scheme conditionally. 
  (If the police spent more time tackling serious crime 32% if they actually reduced serious crime in Lambeth 15%)
• 78% of residents surveyed supported giving a warning to those found in possession of cannabis.
• about 75% of the public nationally would support a warning scheme

17. The Police foundation evaluation also showed:

• 41% of residents said they had heard nothing of the scheme prior to the survey.
• a further 26% had heard only a little prior to answering the questions they were read an explanation of how the scheme operates.
• a higher percentage of white residents than black or Asian residents supported the scheme.

18. A management assessment is being prepared by DAC Fuller to provide an objective view of the pilot. This will take into account the Consultancy Group internal process evaluation, the Police Foundation Report, and the views expressed by MPS senior officers. It will also look at the impact on other crime statistics and how officer time was utilised.

19. Other matters that need to be addressed in order to make a decision of extension of a warning system include assessing the compatibility with:

• Current guidelines for dealing with young offenders.
• Home Office counting rules used for compiling statistics and performance indicators.
• ACPO case disposal guidelines.
• Compatibility with local Drug Action Team plans.

20. Additionally it will be necessary to assess how persistent re-offenders for possession of cannabis should be dealt with if a warning scheme is introduced and whether the system could be simplified to further reduce bureaucracy and save additional officer time. There are also Training implications for staff; a criticism of the pilot in Lambeth was that insufficient explanation of the warning system was give to officers prior to commencement of the scheme.

21. Agreement was reached with MPS Management Board that the pilot would not be extended at this time, but that the warning system would continue in Lambeth. Prior to any further action being take the MPS will await the decision by the Home Office as to whether cannabis should be reclassified.

Reclassification of cannabis

22. An MPS working party has been formed to assess the impact of a reclassification of cannabis from a class B to a class C drug. This group will assess the findings of the Consultancy Group internal process evaluation, the public attitude survey conducted by the Police Foundation, the Rowntree report and the views of BOCUs. The working party will present a paper with their proposals to Management Board.

23. ACPO are also preparing for the anticipated reclassification and have formed a working group. The MPS Drug Directorate will be represented on this group which is to be chaired by ACC Lee from Dorset constabulary.

24. An announcement on reclassification is expected in April 2002.

Drug policy

25. It is the MPS role to enforce the law and limitations on resources dictate that we should concentrate on the offences that cause the most harm to communities, therefore our enforcement strategy has been to tackle offences related to the trafficking of heroin and crack cocaine as a priority.

26. The MPS has not set out individual policies that relate to specific types of drug, currently the MPS apply national case disposal guidelines which are set out in the Case Disposal Manual.

27. A review of current MPS drug policies is underway to identify which areas require new policy, current policies that require up dating and those which are now obsolete. New policy on the policing of drugs in clubs and licensed premises, and custody procedures for dealing with 'drug mules' are currently being developed.

C. Financial implications

If cannabis were to be reclassified, following the experiment on Lambeth Borough, there would be training implication. However, it is not possible at this early stage to indicate what the cost of this would be. It is anticipated that while precise figures are not available that any additional costs will be controlled within existing budgets.

D. Background papers

• Summary of Consultancy Group internal process evaluation
• Summary of the Police Foundation Report

E. Contact details

Report authors: Inspector Alexandra Phipp, MPS.

For information contact:

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

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