Pubdate: Sat, 09 Feb 2002
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Copyright: 2002 Guardian Newspapers Limited
Contact:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardian/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/175
Author: Nick Hopkins, Crime correspondent

MET PLAN TO EXTEND SOFTLY, SOFTLY DRUG SCHEME

Relaxed attitude towards minor offenders during cannabis project in Lambeth 
saves police time and brings increase in arrests of dealers Secret plans to 
roll out a controversial cannabis scheme across London are being drawn up 
after a study found it saved officers and staff in one borough more than 
2,500 hours and led to a 19% increase in arrests of class A drug dealers, 
the Guardian can reveal.

A report into a six-month pilot project in Lambeth, south London, due to be 
published next week, will show that a more relaxed attitude to policing of 
the drug gave the borough the equivalent of two extra full-time officers.

Early analysis of a Mori poll of 2,000 people living in Lambeth has also 
shown that the community supports the scheme.

The full results of the poll, which was commissioned by the Police 
Foundation as part of its own review of the scheme, are expected to be 
revealed at the end of the month.

Encouraged by the findings, the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir John 
Stevens, has asked a senior officer, deputy assistant commissioner Mike 
Fuller, to draw up plans for rolling out the scheme to boroughs across the 
capital.

The apparent success of the project and the favourable reaction of the 
community will also bolster the position of the home secretary, David 
Blunkett, who wants to press ahead with plans to reclassify cannabis from a 
class B to a class C drug. This will mean that the police lose the power to 
arrest people for simple possession.

Though the Police Federation said last month that the south London project 
was being abused by drug users who were flooding into the area, Lambeth's 
commander, Brian Paddick, is understood to be contempuous of the claim.

Fred Broughton, federation chairman, told a Home Office select committee 
that there was anecdotal evidence from officers to suggest that the scheme 
had not saved any time, yet the independent consultants who compiled the 
report on behalf of the Met will say next week that this is not supported 
by their findings.

All officers in Lambeth were asked to fill out a questionnaire about the 
scheme, but only 6% of the local force bothered to do so. Senior Met 
officers believe this shows that officers in Lambeth have few genuine 
concerns about the impact of the scheme.

The Met introduced the initiative in Lambeth last July to reduce the time 
spent processing minor cannabis offences so officers could focus efforts on 
tackling crack cocaine and other class A drug users and dealers.

Under the scheme, people caught with cannabis are given on-the-spot 
warnings, rather than being cautioned, arrested and possibly charged.

According to the study, a total of 1,350 hours of police officers' time 
were saved in six months. It estimates that three hours was saved every 
time a warning was issued instead of an arrest.

The report says that an additional 1,168 hours of police support staff time 
was saved by not having to process cannabis prosecutions through the 
borough's criminal justice unit.

The study found that officers seized more cannabis during the six months 
than they did in the same period the year before.

Police believe that the rise is due to the increase in the number of 
officers on the streets, and because the scheme offers "a practical 
alternative to arrest or turning a 'blind eye'."

The number of arrests for dealing cannabis rose by 11% "suggesting dealers 
found with larger amounts ... who are excluded from the warning scheme, may 
have been targeted by officers".

Some officers interviewed for the report were worried that the reduction in 
cannabis arrests meant that opportunities to gather intelligence on 
suspects, such as DNA samples and fingerprints, were being lost.

A draft document, leaked to the Guardian, says the Met will argue that it 
"has caught more people with cannabis, confiscated more cannabis and warned 
more people for cannabis than ever before".
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