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[Fedster + 1,307]

Chief constable encourages other forces to trial the controversial programme following its success.

Chief Constable Mike Barton

 

Low-level drug dealers taken into custody will be given the opportunity to avoid prosecution.

Durham’s Chief Constable Mike Barton told Police Oracle vulnerable people forced into a situation where they sell drugs will be better off undergoing a programme rather than being dealt with by the Crown Prosecutiuon Service.

He said: “People think we’ve gone stark, stirring mad in Durham which is quite the opposite, we’ve got an eminently sensible approach.

“An awful lot of people who are lesser players and involved in drug dealing are sometimes there because they are vulnerable or being coerced or sometimes splitting a deal between them and somebody else who is in the room with them.

“This is very clearly - according to the definition - dealing, or being involved in the supply. But these are sad, vulnerable people who in the right circumstances would be better dealt with via Checkpoint than the law.”

Durham Police will be the first force in the UK to introduce the controversial measures as an expansion of its Checkpoint programme.

It was initially introduced in 2015 to rebuild the lives of drug addicts rather than giving them a criminal conviction.

CC Barton is happy with the outcome of the two year trial and says there is sufficient evidence to prove putting some people through Checkpoint is more beneficial than sending them to court.

The force, alongside Police and Crime Commissioner Ron Hogg, will hire an extra four navigators to ensure a planned expansion runs smoothly.

The force aims to reduce offending by using navigators to establish the root cause and assist them into pathways out of offending such a securing a job or helping with family issues.

CC Barton said: “I know it’s controversial, but people are locked into this cycle of thinking that somehow they are part of the criminal justice sausage machine and all I do is lock people up and unthinkingly send them to court – well that isn’t how the world works.”

But not all offenders will be eligible for the programme, only those who have committed minor offences and plead guilty can be selected to undergo the four month programme.

They are monitored over two years. Offenders who fail Checkpoint  or choose not to cooperate will be prosecuted.

CC Barton addd: “We’re actually clearing the debris of minor offences that clutter the courts so that they can concentrate on trials that are dealing with more serious offenders.

“It’s not a soft option, it’s a sensible option."

The Durham Chief has been vocal previously. CC Barton spoke out in support of the decriminalisation of drugs - suggesting cannabis should be legalised and also called for “fix rooms” to assist with treating heroin addict.                   

He told Police Oracle: “All I’ve ever asked for is people to take a cold, hard, dispassionate, unprejudiced look at whether or not our current policies to tackle control drugs are working.

“From my perspective, running a police force under beleaguered circumstances, as we’ve over the last seven years, British policing has never had as much money taken out of it.

“Some could argue that we’ve never had the challenges we face now – we’re still only beginning to understand exactly how we police the internet – let alone the scourge of drugs, what it does to communities.

“So I’m asking sensible people to have a conversation, rather than this knee-jerk response that all drugs are bad and we should throw people in prison and incarcerate them for life and let them rot – it’s neither sensible nor humane.

“I am trying to take away cash and money and power away from the most dangerous people who are in charge of the distribution of tons or controlled drugs every year in the UK.

“A lot of the fatalities are from young people because they don’t know what they’re taking.

“I have to deal with the world as it is, not as I would want it to be.”

“I am enforcing the law more residuously than most, but I actually have more registered heroin addicts in my county than I have police officers.”

“Do people really know what’s going on? I don’t think so.”

View On Police Oracle

[SimonT + 1,185]

Seems like it would have been better to start with vulnerable drug possessor rather than dealer. But why not. Give it a go and see what happens. 

We are currently trialing something different. If has completely fallen down because if poor planning and implementation but we are trying. Which is good. 

[ParochialYokal 1,119]

I binge watched a number of short programmes about ‘County Line’ dealing in Avon and Somerset on BBC3 over the weekend and their model followed a different MO to other county line ops.

 

They recruited local, white, vulnerable drug users to be their runners; as opposed to sending up runners from London who ‘cuckooed’ users and effectively took over their homes

 

These people were all pretty much pathetic individuals; some clearly needed help but others were vulnerable but should have known better.

 

The problem with the ‘war on drugs’ is that it has created a sophisticated model of dealing whereby those responsible are very much removed and local forces under pressure to deliver results just arrest the ‘shop front’ of local operations.

 

Drug enforcement should be about harm my minimisation and not retribution.

 

A balanced approach is needed and Durham should be commended on taking a brave approach.

 

 

[Beaker 817]

In a similar vein I'd recommend "Good Cop, Bad War". Interesting take on things from someone who worked undercover.

[ParochialYokal 1,119]

In a similar vein I'd recommend "Good Cop, Bad War". Interesting take on things from someone who worked undercover.

I read that book in 3 days flat. Couldn’t put it down.

The sad ending was how Sussex Police used to knock off vulnerable drug users who were exploited to deal, rather than investing the time and sophisticated expertise in order to go after the evil individuals who perpetrated such criminality.

Neil Woods displayed a considerable amount of moral courage to blow the whistle on how drugs enforcement went wrong- he was well placed to do so. I am pleased that Durham Police are adopting a policy that is broadly in line with his messaging.

[Mac7 808]

I’m not sure what people’s experience of drugs supply is but I not aware of the force I work for or forces around me being only interested in locking up the front line operators. On the contrary, forces favour targeting level 2 and above drug suppliers because it’s well known that if you take out the foot soldiers then the next day they are replaced and you haven’t solved anything. However, to get into an OCG or higher up dealer you often need a weak link and that’s where a foot soldier can be useful and exploited through surveillance or intelligence. Protracted investigation can lead you to taking out major players and then going at them with POCA etc as well.

 

The move by Durham seems to be positive. It seems common place for dealers to use addicts premises or the addicts themselves to deal/provide logistical support. I wonder if the support extends beyond non prosecution into help with rehabilitation.

 

 

[Zulu 22 + 4,576]

Nothing like surrendering the streets. Yes go after the big suppliers but enforce the law from street level upwards. The dealers do not have any scruples about who they supply to. It could be your children or grand children. Why let anyone spread misery.