Drug enforcement

ANALYSIS: A new study by the N8 Policing Research Partnership has found a lack of effective evaluation of police activity to tackle drugs markets, leading to responses built on an evidence base that is “distressingly weak”, a “whack-a-mole” approach to police operations, and forces resorting to short termism, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: The increase in drug-related extreme violence and the scale of drug seizures across Europe suggest Mexican and South American cartels already view the EU as the ideal location for expansion; former DEA Special Agent Michael Brown, Global Director of Counter-Narcotics Technology at Rigaku Analytical Devices, believes steps can be taken by European governments and law enforcement to thwart that expansion – but will require political will, increased co-operation, and better use of technology.

OPINION: While attempts to tackle the issue of illegal drugs through decriminalisation in the US and Canada have been less than successful, former Police Scotland Superintendent Martin Gallagher argues that as traditional enforcement measures have failed, it’s time for a bolder approach to drug use and consumption, with regulating, legitimising and taxing supply a crucial step towards true change and rehabilitation.

FEATURE: The latest United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime World Drug Report highlights record levels of cannabis and cocaine use – with an accompanying rise in violence – and the increased agility of traffickers who are expanding their criminal activities into areas such as wildlife trafficking, illegal resource extraction and money laundering, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: With the ongoing fentanyl crisis claiming hundreds of lives ever day in North America, a new class of synthetic opioids – nitazenes – is causing real concern both in the US and more widely, including the UK, Canada and Australia; former Ottawa Police Service Chief Vernon White takes a closer look at the background to both the growth of fentanyl, the emergence of nitazenes, and the steps countries are taking to tackle the threat.

Analysis: The latest National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program report from the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission suggested a 17% increase in drug consumption over the previous 12 months; the Australian Strategic Policy Institutes John Coyne believes that more attention should be paid to these sophisticated analyses, and that the findings highlight the need for a new approach to drug policies that should incorporate wider harm reduction and prevention strategies.

OPINION: The influx of county lines drug gangs from English cities into Scotland has led to increased violence and the exploitation of local youngsters; but SNP Policing spokesman Allan Dorans argues that a desire among the mainstream media not to raise racial tension or anti-English sentiment has led to a lack of coverage of the issues which has had consequences for policing.

OPINION: With increased evidence of police officers around the world experiencing growing mental health trauma and PTSD, Neil Woods, a former undercover drugs officer and chairman of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP) UK, believes policing urgently needs to explore the psychiatry revolution involving psychedelic medicine to protect officers’ mental health.

OPINION: The popularity of various illicit drugs changes regularly, with substance preference of users often dictated by the choices of manufacturers, logistical challenges and geopolitical events; Associate Professor Ian Hamilton of the University of York, and Professor Harry Sumnall of Liverpool John Moores University, highlight four street drugs that could pose a significant UK health threat in 2024.

INNOVATION: In the final instalment in a series exploring Essex Police’s Hothouse technology innovation programme, Policing Insight examines how the force is adopting new approaches to tackle drug-driven violence, and what it tells us about how policing could work with the tech sector, as James Sweetland reports.

FEATURE: Overdoses of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, which kills twice as many US citizens and 10 times as many Canadian people than firearms each year, are starting to increase in the UK and Europe; Vernon White, former Chief of Ottawa Police Service, and Joe Carlebach, former Hammersmith and Fulham councillor, explore the efforts being made to stem the supply of the precursor ingredients from China, and manufactured, street-grade fentanyl from Mexico and Canada.

ANALYSIS: Last month the cross-party UK Home Affairs Committee published its latest report on drugs, which included calls for a reform of legislation, greater cross-departmental collaboration in combating drugs, and more emphasis on protecting children and adopting a trauma-informed approach to the problem; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons explores some of the key recommendation from the Committee.

OPINION: As the opioid crisis continues to grow in countries around the world, more police forces in the UK, Canada, Australia and elsewhere are looking to equip officers with overdose reversal medication naloxone to save lives; Vernon White, former Chief of Police for Ottawa Police Service, and Joe Carlebach, former Hammersmith and Fulham councillor, argue that with enforcement showing little signs of ending the opioid crisis in the near future, naloxone should become standard issue for officers.

INTERVIEW: In an exclusive interview in Stockholm, Swedish National Police Commissioner Anders Thornberg spoke to Policing Insight’s James Sweetland about the country’s approach to law enforcement, the importance of international collaboration, rising gang crime, new tech, and the need to balance economic goals with public safety.

OPINION: Earlier this year British Columbia began Canada’s first drug ‘decriminalisation’ policy, removing criminal sanctions for adults in possession of small amounts of certain illegal drugs; but research scientist Dr Kanna Hayashi, an Associate Professor at Simon Fraser University, warns that while police continue to seize drugs even when users aren’t charged with offences, toxic drug deaths will remain a major problem.

INTERVIEW: In the latest in a series of interviews with leading figures involved in the research and investigation of organised crime, Policing Insight’s Dr Chris Allen spoke to University of Bath Professor Felia Allum, Chair of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) Standing Group on Organised Crime, about talking to the mafia, the role of women in crime, and why the best way to tackle organised crime is by addressing poverty and lack of opportunity.

INTERVIEW: In 2021, the UK Government announced Project ADDER – a new pilot programme combining disruption of criminal gangs selling drugs with a renewed focus on recovery; two years on, Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner Steve Turner believes it’s made a real difference to communities in his area, as he told Policing Insight’s James Sweetland.

OPINION: Heroin supplies in the US are now commonly adulterated with animal tranquillizer xylazine, a drug which when injected can lead to widespread lesions that cause tissue death – hence the name ‘zombie drug’: with the first reported case of xylazine in a UK drug-user’s death now recorded, King’s College London Pharmaceutical Lecturer Dr Caroline Copeland believes heroin users must be made aware of the additional risks – especially as opioid overdose reversal agent naloxone is not effective against the sedative effects of xylazine.

INTERVIEW: In the latest in a series of interviews with leading figures involved in the research and investigation of organised crime, Policing Insight’s Chris Allen spoke to former police officer Neil Woods, now Chairman of Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP) UK, about legalising cannabis, how prescribing heroin can benefit society while landing a blow against organised crime, and the huge impact that the drugs market has on the climate crisis.

OPINION: The recent Casey Review of the UK’s Metropolitan Police Service focused mainly on the damning findings around behaviour and culture, with little mention of drugs; but former Police Scotland superintendent Martin Gallagher argues that the policing of drugs could be a key contributor to negative public perceptions and lower levels of trust in the force, and removing the drugs market from criminality could be the ‘huge and radical step’ required to help regain trust among London’s black community.

OPINION: Former Police Scotland Superintendent Martin Gallagher argues that the ‘war on drugs’ has largely failed and is drawing to an inevitable close; but he also believes that concerted efforts to divert current drug barons away from criminality, as well as clearly articulated international guidance of where drug policies should now go, will be essential if police and society are to successfully move forward.

INTERVIEW: In the latest in a series of interviews with leading figures involved in the research and investigation of organised crime, Policing Insight’s Chris Allen spoke to Dr Adrian James, Reader in Police Studies at Liverpool John Moores University, about the negligible impact of the National Intelligence Model, the myth of the criminals’ code of silence, and policing’s inability to reduce the supply of drugs.

FEATURE: Out-of-court disposals (OOCDs) and diversionary interventions can keep people out of the criminal justice system, and reduce pressures on police, courts and prisons, but the approach is inconsistent and can lack funding; ahead of the introduction of a new two-tier OOCD framework, Meg Jones, Director of social justice charity Cranstoun, looks at what the changes will mean, what works well, and the challenges facing the approach.

INTERVIEW: The Straits of Gibraltar are a potential illicit gateway between Europe and Africa, but it’s not just drugs and people smugglers keeping the Royal Gibraltar Police Marine Unit busy; in this second in a two-part series on the Unit’s work, Policing Insight’s Martin Buhagiar spoke to Chief Inspector Sean Perera about the unique challenges of policing the Iberian Peninsula and this incredibly busy stretch of water, where tackling traffickers, counter-terrorism and environmental emergencies are all part of the job.