Fewer arrested people in Nottingham tested positive for drugs

FEWER than one in four people arrested for theft and similar offences in Nottingham last year had heroin or cocaine in their bloodstream.

Figures released by the Nottingham Crime and Drugs Partnership show that 1,036 out of 4,358 people arrested for acquisitive crimes such as burglary, robbery, vehicle crime and shoplifting in 2010 tested positive for the drugs.

It is a major fall on the 1,749 out of 4,483 arrested for the same crimes in 2008.

Home Office figures also show the number of drug users who commit crime to feed their addiction has also fallen from by nearly a quarter (23.7 per cent) to 3,065 in October 2010 from 4,020 in March 2008.

Police say they have been working hard to tackle the issue of drug abuse among the people they have arrested.

And partnership strategic and commissioning manager Ian Bentley said there had also been a cultural change in drug abuse across the city.

He said: "The quality of Class A drugs readily available is worse that it was. And, for people under 24, Class A drugs are not their drugs of choice. They are using cannabis and miaow miaow [mephedrone].

"It's a cultural thing. We've gone through a dance culture that was using ecstasy and now it's other drugs."

Drug testing on arrest in Nottingham for acquisitive crime began in November 2005. Previously testing only took place when someone was charged.

Mr Bentley said: "As soon as a positive test is recorded the custody detention officer arranges for a drug worker from the Criminal Justice Intervention Service at Nottinghamshire Probation Service to see them.

"The speed of this means you're getting a really early intervention in tackling drug addiction."

Notts Police have four custody suites where testing can take place – at the Bridewell, next to Nottingham Magistrates' Court, and at Mansfield, Newark and Worksop police stations.

Suspects place a paddle-shaped swab under their tongue which soaks up an amount of their saliva. This is mixed with a fluid and fed into a machine which photographs bars which say what drug is present and indicate the level of it in their bodies. The test takes under a minute to produce a result.

Mr Bentley said that the use of Drug Rehabilitation Requirement orders and work with prolific offenders had also played important roles in tackling drug-fuelled crime.

The court-imposed community orders provide access to a treatment programme.

Mr Bentley also praised Jobcentre Plus for training its staff to encourage benefit claimants suspected of having drug problems into treatment.

The Post reported earlier this month how a police-led operation against drug dealers in and around Sneinton and St Ann's last spring led to 66 criminals connected to the production and supply of Class A, B and C drugs ordered to serve a combined 102 years in custody.

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