The six workshops held during the Association of Chief Police Officers’ annual national drugs conference, chaired by West Yorkshire Police chief constable Keith Hellawell, usually exert a huge influence nationwide. This is because recommendations arrived at through the workshops have a history of being carried through within the next year or so, and can affect the whole country. Their recommendations might now have even more influence, as Hellawell has been appointed by the government as one of the UK’s two drug czars.
So what recommendations were made at this year’s conference? And how far have last year’s recommendations (see ACW March/April 1997) progressed?
Drugs in the workplace. The ACPO Drugs Subcommittee was requested to consider urgently the development of a “nationally acceptable, consistent substance-misuse policy template, including screening procedures where appropriate”. All forces should be encouraged to adopt this. It was also recommended that the Central Drugs Coordination Unit be asked to provide advice to drug action teams. It should encourage the issue of a substance-misuse policy to be placed as a priority in their action plans, with emphasis on Dat member agencies introducing such policies. Workplace drugs issues should be promoted vigorously in health promotion campaigns and re-emphasised in the review of the government drugs strategy.
Dealing with offenders. It was recommended that there should be a multi-agency approach before, during and after custody, to give continuity of care to individual offenders. Police forces should also support the ACPO drugs subcommittee recommendation that cautioning policy for drug misusers be standardised using the “gravity factor” index in the Drugs Workshop Manual.
There should be a national forum to highlight best practice in terms of prison and resettlement schemes for dealing with drug-misusing offenders. And seized assets from drugs dealers should fund treatment programmes and other conference recommendations.
Drugs and the pharmacist. The potential for effective intervention through needle exchange schemes should be maximised through greater use of the resources available to community pharmacists.
There should be a change in legislation, and in the interim a Home Office circular to chief officers, not to prosecute pharmacists for supplying to drug users “relevant” drug-related injecting paraphernalia such as mediswabs and sterile water ampoules. Pharmacists should also adopt the use of “dosing rooms” for on-the-premises dispensation of methadone, benzodiazapines, etc.
Research should be undertaken into the scope and extent of inappropriate and over-prescribing of methadone and other drugs, particularly from the private prescription system. And the ACPO document on Chemist Inspecting Officers should be reprinted and more widely distributed.
Drugs in sport and entertainment. The following seven recommendations were made:
1: an increase in funds for drug testing across all sports to raise the threshold of the prospect of getting caught
2: a consistent approach to all sports in relation to the drugs for which they test, both performance enhancing and “social” use
3: a national and mandatory door staff registration scheme as a condition of entertainment licences
4: ACPO discussions at local level with clubs on the handling of people found possessing drugs
5: dialogue between police and club operators on current drug trends and intelligence
6: that lead agencies reestablish the educational initiative in relation to dance drugs, and
7: that the Health & Safety Executive and other agencies “design out” drug problems at dance venues with the aid of CCTV, etc.
Drug policy and education in schools. ACPO should support measures to make drugs education part of a statutory PSHE curriculum. It should develop national guidance on the best contribution the police service can make to drug policy and education for young people, based on research evidence.
ACPO should also use its influence to emphasise the centrality of drugs education in the coming review of the Tackling Drugs Together strategy, acknowledging that there are wider dimensions of prevention including socio-economic factors.
Community safety. ACPO will design a new national framework for developing and supporting effective local partnership work on community safety and drugs, in collaboration with other key national bodies.
The following is some of the progress made on last year’s key recommendations.
Drugs and driving. The ACPO traffic committee had researched the extent of drug use while driving, road-side screening devices and training courses for police officers. It recommended that legislation be introduced to accommodate a new offence of driving a motor vehicle with detectable levels of Class A, B and specified Class C drugs.
Good progress in the development of a road-side drug-screening device has been made and it is hoped that a prototype will be police tested in 1998. Training will also be offered to police officers to recognise the signs of drug use/driving.
Consistent cautioning. The ACPO Drugs Subcommittee has produced a booklet, Case DIsposal Options for Drug Offenders, which assists police officers responsible for cautioning drug offenders. The ACPO drugs subcommittee chairman — Hellawell — has brought to the attention of home secretary Jack Straw “caution plus” and the recommendations for people in the judiciary to receive training.
European partnerships. The ACPO drugs sub-committee has this year produced a booklet on European partnerships, lead agencies and potential benefits of participation for UK police forces.
National drug/crime recording system. The Police Information Technology Organisation has been consulted in relation to a national drug/crime recording system.
Young people. Through the CDCU, drug action teams were encouraged to take account of the Effectiveness Review recommendations in their provision of services to young people. The Department of Health report last March, Purchasing Effective Treatment & Care for Drug Misusers, highlighted the role of Dats in supporting drug-related service coordination and training. This helped instigate reviews of services to young people at risk and prioritised development of effective services.
GPs and police surgeons. Dats were also recommended to consider the role and requirements of GPs and police surgeons. They have now generally set objectives in their action plans to increase primary care professionals’ involvement in the treatment of drug users and address their training needs. And after consulting Dats, the DoH Drug Misuse Clinical Guidelines Working Group is due to produce new clinical guidelines on drug misuse and dependence in late 1997.
Accreditation of drug agencies. It was recommended that police forces operate referral schemes linked to accredited drug agencies and that the CDCU consider how accreditation of drug agencies could be introduced.
Through Dats, there is now widespread piloting of multi-agency referral schemes linked with local drug agencies. The CDCU has recommended that accreditation of drug agencies be determined at local level and last March produced a guidance document entitled Community Drug Treatment Interventions and the Criminal Justice System.
The National Lottery Board should be encouraged by the ACPO drugs subcommittee to check requests for funding drug projects with the CDCU, to ensure compatibility with the Tackling Drugs Together strategy. Discussions are ongoing with the Department of National Heritage in relation to vetting of drug projects for lottery funding.
Media. Finally, it was recommended that the ACPO drugs subcommittee provide guidance on good practice and training for officers who interact with the press in drug issues. The ACPO Media Advisory Group is currently considering this issue.