Preamble
A week on, the AGM blog post continues to attract attention with total site traffic yesterday exceeding 3,100 hits. What it means is always an imprecise science, but I suspect something not unconnected to the long-standing Napo tradition of not saying very much about difficult issues. Whatever happened to the General Secretary's Blog?
Talking of difficult issues, politicians have always found drugs firmly in that category and best avoided. William Haigh raised the subject "Decriminalising drugs is the only way forward" back in August because it seems the topic can only be raised when your political career is over. Fortunately, the continuing independence of Chief Constables who hold office under the Crown, despite all the elected PCC nonsense, often can and do speak up on such matters whilst in post, as here in the Guardian:-
As a chief constable, I’ve seen enough: it’s time to end the ‘war on drugs’
I know addicts can commit odious acts. But treating drug use as a criminal justice problem causes thousands of needless deaths
When I first met Andy, I got the sense that he hadn’t been born at all but rather quarried out of a mountainside: a big man with a warm smile who, as we spoke, was injecting medical-grade heroin into a line in his lower leg. As a serving chief constable, this was one of the more unusual introductions I’ve made with a member of the community.
Andy must have sensed my confusion at his apparent health and physical stature for a person on the heroin-assisted treatment programme in Middlesbrough, the first of its kind in England and Wales. “Heroin doesn’t make you skinny,” he said. “It’s just that heroin comes first and last and there’s never any money left for food. That’s why addicts are thin.”
If the “war on drugs”, first declared a full 50 years ago, has an established fighting front, it’s Andy’s home town of Middlesbrough. The latest statistics from 2020 show that 123 people died from drug-related deaths on Teesside – the highest number since figures have been collated, and one of the highest rates in the country. Across England and Wales, there were more than 4,500 drug-related deaths in the same 12 months.
The vast majority of those deaths would have been entirely preventable. In 21 years of police service I have slowly, perhaps too slowly, come to the conclusion that framing this crisis as a criminal justice problem has not simply been unhelpful, but counterproductive. This nationwide epidemic is a public health crisis.
Having said that, if it’s to be labelled as a problem, perhaps it’s best characterised as a political one. It must be recognised how hard it is for mainstream parties to initiate a conversation on drugs policy reform when votes are often won by being “tough on crime”. I agree with the sentiment, but there are different ways of achieving this. Some early advocates for reform do exist across the political divide, including MPs Crispin Blunt (Conservative) and Jeff Smith (Labour), but there is a growing appetite beyond Westminster to fundamentally reconsider our response.
In my time as Cleveland’s chief constable, we have increased the number of stop and searches and seen a large increase in the amount of illicit drugs seized – I’m proud of this. Stop and search can have an impact and ensure that vulnerable people are safeguarded. Likewise, closing cannabis farms can work: not only are drugs seized and gang members jailed, we safeguard those left to “farm” the cannabis who are often trafficked into the UK.
However, working alone as a single agency has had little impact on the problem as a whole. The production of heroin in Afghanistan, and cocaine in South America, has increased; organised crime activity and violence is at an historic high; and deaths continue to rise.
If we are to be serious about tackling this crisis, a fundamental change of approach is required. The government’s response to Carol Black’s independent drugs review proposes a cross-departmental drugs unit and reinvestment in treatment services that were cut during the years of austerity. The reinvestment is a particularly welcome recommendation and is a prerequisite to reducing deaths.
Most of us have allowed the message on drugs being bad (which they clearly are) to be conflated with addicts themselves being bad simply for using drugs. Let me be clear: some of the most odious and evil acts I’ve encountered in my police service have been perpetrated by drug addicts; but this is not universally true. Many, like Andy in Middlesbrough, have made bad choices in their lives – but by helping people like him, we help ourselves.
Andy is now on the path to stabilisation, supported by Danny Ahmed, a visionary who runs the treatment programme in the town. Danny explains that it required a brave set of people two years ago to sign off on his plan to give “heroin” to addicts. But viewing drug dependency as a chronic health condition, as Danny does, allows us to view the problem through a different prism: we would not hesitate to help patients manage other conditions that require ongoing medication.
As Danny explains, the patients are given diamorphine, the same drug that pregnant women often receive during labour to manage pain. Most people feel differently about his programme when this is explained. While watching Andy’s syringe being prepared (during which time he’s not allowed to be in the room) I asked the nurse what would happen to me if I took the diamorphine. So high is the dosage, I’m told it would probably kill me.
Andy chats happily as he prepares to self-administer the diamorphine in what amounts to a doctor’s surgery. He doesn’t fall back in a stupor on to a dirty mattress, as depicted in Hollywood movies, nor does he lose consciousness. At all points he’s lucid and talkative. Andy and the others on the programme do this twice a day, every day of the year: a phenomenal commitment for people who are used to living chaotic lives.
Andy invites me to stay for a cup of tea. He talks about a difficult upbringing in one of the poorest towns in England but acknowledges that not all those who have a difficult start in life end up abusing heroin. The ruinous path to addiction started as a means to “fit in” and fill a void in his life.
The programme has meant his life has stabilised, he’s rebuilding relationships with family members, and can look with confidence to the future. “I understand that you’ve got a job to do,” he almost pitifully suggests, before tailing off from the sentence – with the futility of the police’s work to stamp out drug abuse all too evident.
The heroin-assisted treatment programme offers hope, if scaled up on a national level, that demand for heroin can be cut. When the state offers a meaningful alternative to the street drugs that can be bought from organised crime groups, the demand for them decreases. What remains to be seen is how organised crime groups will adapt to plug a huge drop in profits.
Middlesbrough, a town so often discussed as a “problematic” area with “problematic” people, could possibly represent the beginning of the end for the “war on drugs” that has already taken too many lives.
Richard Lewis is chief constable of Cleveland police
I know addicts can commit odious acts. But treating drug use as a criminal justice problem causes thousands of needless deaths
When I first met Andy, I got the sense that he hadn’t been born at all but rather quarried out of a mountainside: a big man with a warm smile who, as we spoke, was injecting medical-grade heroin into a line in his lower leg. As a serving chief constable, this was one of the more unusual introductions I’ve made with a member of the community.
Andy must have sensed my confusion at his apparent health and physical stature for a person on the heroin-assisted treatment programme in Middlesbrough, the first of its kind in England and Wales. “Heroin doesn’t make you skinny,” he said. “It’s just that heroin comes first and last and there’s never any money left for food. That’s why addicts are thin.”
If the “war on drugs”, first declared a full 50 years ago, has an established fighting front, it’s Andy’s home town of Middlesbrough. The latest statistics from 2020 show that 123 people died from drug-related deaths on Teesside – the highest number since figures have been collated, and one of the highest rates in the country. Across England and Wales, there were more than 4,500 drug-related deaths in the same 12 months.
The vast majority of those deaths would have been entirely preventable. In 21 years of police service I have slowly, perhaps too slowly, come to the conclusion that framing this crisis as a criminal justice problem has not simply been unhelpful, but counterproductive. This nationwide epidemic is a public health crisis.
Having said that, if it’s to be labelled as a problem, perhaps it’s best characterised as a political one. It must be recognised how hard it is for mainstream parties to initiate a conversation on drugs policy reform when votes are often won by being “tough on crime”. I agree with the sentiment, but there are different ways of achieving this. Some early advocates for reform do exist across the political divide, including MPs Crispin Blunt (Conservative) and Jeff Smith (Labour), but there is a growing appetite beyond Westminster to fundamentally reconsider our response.
In my time as Cleveland’s chief constable, we have increased the number of stop and searches and seen a large increase in the amount of illicit drugs seized – I’m proud of this. Stop and search can have an impact and ensure that vulnerable people are safeguarded. Likewise, closing cannabis farms can work: not only are drugs seized and gang members jailed, we safeguard those left to “farm” the cannabis who are often trafficked into the UK.
However, working alone as a single agency has had little impact on the problem as a whole. The production of heroin in Afghanistan, and cocaine in South America, has increased; organised crime activity and violence is at an historic high; and deaths continue to rise.
If we are to be serious about tackling this crisis, a fundamental change of approach is required. The government’s response to Carol Black’s independent drugs review proposes a cross-departmental drugs unit and reinvestment in treatment services that were cut during the years of austerity. The reinvestment is a particularly welcome recommendation and is a prerequisite to reducing deaths.
Most of us have allowed the message on drugs being bad (which they clearly are) to be conflated with addicts themselves being bad simply for using drugs. Let me be clear: some of the most odious and evil acts I’ve encountered in my police service have been perpetrated by drug addicts; but this is not universally true. Many, like Andy in Middlesbrough, have made bad choices in their lives – but by helping people like him, we help ourselves.
Andy is now on the path to stabilisation, supported by Danny Ahmed, a visionary who runs the treatment programme in the town. Danny explains that it required a brave set of people two years ago to sign off on his plan to give “heroin” to addicts. But viewing drug dependency as a chronic health condition, as Danny does, allows us to view the problem through a different prism: we would not hesitate to help patients manage other conditions that require ongoing medication.
As Danny explains, the patients are given diamorphine, the same drug that pregnant women often receive during labour to manage pain. Most people feel differently about his programme when this is explained. While watching Andy’s syringe being prepared (during which time he’s not allowed to be in the room) I asked the nurse what would happen to me if I took the diamorphine. So high is the dosage, I’m told it would probably kill me.
Andy chats happily as he prepares to self-administer the diamorphine in what amounts to a doctor’s surgery. He doesn’t fall back in a stupor on to a dirty mattress, as depicted in Hollywood movies, nor does he lose consciousness. At all points he’s lucid and talkative. Andy and the others on the programme do this twice a day, every day of the year: a phenomenal commitment for people who are used to living chaotic lives.
Andy invites me to stay for a cup of tea. He talks about a difficult upbringing in one of the poorest towns in England but acknowledges that not all those who have a difficult start in life end up abusing heroin. The ruinous path to addiction started as a means to “fit in” and fill a void in his life.
The programme has meant his life has stabilised, he’s rebuilding relationships with family members, and can look with confidence to the future. “I understand that you’ve got a job to do,” he almost pitifully suggests, before tailing off from the sentence – with the futility of the police’s work to stamp out drug abuse all too evident.
The heroin-assisted treatment programme offers hope, if scaled up on a national level, that demand for heroin can be cut. When the state offers a meaningful alternative to the street drugs that can be bought from organised crime groups, the demand for them decreases. What remains to be seen is how organised crime groups will adapt to plug a huge drop in profits.
Middlesbrough, a town so often discussed as a “problematic” area with “problematic” people, could possibly represent the beginning of the end for the “war on drugs” that has already taken too many lives.
Richard Lewis is chief constable of Cleveland police
--oo00oo--
It's worth bearing in mind that, unlike the Police, as civil servants the Probation Service at any level is now completely silenced in terms of making any contribution towards social policy discussions, despite having an unparalleled wealth of experience and insight into such matters. Increasingly, it's the Police Service as de facto community social workers that we must look to for enlightened social policy making, a role once very firmly in probation's bailiwick.
HMI Thematic Report August 2021:-
ReplyDeleteProbation services are responding poorly to drugs misuse and addiction cases, according to a new report published today jointly by HM Inspectorate of Probation and Care Quality Commission. The report highlights one key fact to demonstrate how the probation’s service work with people who use drugs has deteriorated over the last decade. Probation services across England and Wales supervise nearly 156,000 people in the community. HM Inspectorate of Probation estimates that almost 75,000 of these individuals have a drugs problem, yet fewer than 3,000 people were referred by probation services to specialist drug misuse treatment in 2019/2020.
Conclusions
Inspectors concluded that the poor quality of work with people who use drugs should be set in the context of longstanding heavy probation workloads.
They found that practitioners did not always have the time to examine individuals’ back stories and identify factors that could help support them into recovery, stay safe and move away from drug-related offending. Probation court teams made too few recommendations for treatment.
Much of the expertise that the probation service had in working with people who use drugs has been lost through a combination of an internal focus during the now-abandoned Transforming Rehabilitation experiment and the loss of flourishing partnerships with treatment providers.
This finding was echoed by probation staff with two-thirds of the practitioners interviewed for this inspection saying they needed more training on the impact of drugs and how to support individuals with trauma and recovery.
The problem with police vetting of probation staff is that many that do understand drug use / problems will have been vetted out.
ReplyDeleteWe know that drug use is more prevalent in poorer areas, the very same where males have been historically over-policed and more likely to have convictions as a result.
Another point is that cannabis use is heavily topping the statistics, and it is only a matter of time before we legalise is as have many other countries. Many probation clients are wrongly attributed a drug problem for recreational cannabis use.
On the Napo AGM I’ll repeat a comment from yesterday which really made me think;
“Because we are conditioned against speaking about race discrimination problems publicly. It is well known that victims of race discrimination fear penalties if they report abuse or speak up.”
There is a distinct lack of male probation officers, particularly black PO’s.
DeleteProbation was full of men and tricky dishonesty on equality selections for staff. Too many chums or Christian fellowship types. Equalities shifted on the 90s . Fairer selections by process of different managers not known to applicants. Anonomised shortlists started another trend. The unions adopted probation nonsense and are just as dishonest. Final professional selections were still fiddled for the favoured low blow scoring ensured to see applicants off. It did not work for bme . The full on feminisation of probation has knocked it off any balance as the 20s something blonde graduates women's army has misdirected majority male offenders. It may read harsh but it is a factor. HR helped bring this dimension and justified the chosen. Now recruitment has gone via police vetting and this unreal expectation invades people's histories. What's was once is not what people are today. The police dont believe in reform so we will never see enough diverse applicants or many men back to probation while the police have taken over.
Delete"Probation was full of men" No, history records that right from the beginning there were many women POs and possibly close to gender balance. All recruits had life experience however and mostly middle-aged.
DeleteI recall a gender balance too. Last 15 years it’s been a rapid increase of female probation officers and managers, disproportionately white graduates under the age of 25-30. Most do an excellent job, but more proportionate balance and representation is drastically needed.
DeleteAnnon @10:15 makes an extremely important point with regard to drug policy. Drug policy needs to address the specific problems that relate to different types of drugs. It's right to say that cannabis use has a more prolific usage then other types of drugs. It's as easy to grow as geraniums, so waging a war on its use is just pissing in the wind. Locking up a dealer just creates a market opertuity for someone else to fill. Until the government take control and own the problem, they'll continue to waste vast amounts of money and resources that have no impact whatsoever on the problem.
ReplyDeleteOther drugs need different types of attention.
The global expenditure on the 'war on drugs' must be eye watering, but yet they're still here, and freely available everywhere. The southern boarder of USA with Mexico captures on average 870k of narcotics a day. They believe that represents a tiny percentage of the amount that actually crosses the boarder and gets through. Given the extensive drug use problems the USA have across the country that must be true. They hand out huge sentences for drug importation and dealing, but the problems become worse not better.
A while ago I watched a series on PHB America called "drug wars" and it explored all things relating to drugs. It was quite enlightening to me when it explored the socioeconomic dependency communities around the world have on the production of drugs such as cocaine and herion.
Unfortunately, when drug policy is spoke about its the image of those sleeping in doorways, and scruffy looking shop lifters that that are created in our minds, but Andy is more representative of problem. The empires built by the drug cartels and the multi billion pound annual trade in drugs, surely just can't be supported by the shop lifters and homeless of a nation?
The only solution to any nations drug problem is to own the problem. Strip it from a black market economy, regulate it, control it, acknowledge that drugs are here, here to stay, and the war on them has long been lost.
An aside..
"Increasingly, it's the Police Service as de facto community social workers that we must look to for enlightened social policy making,"
I was party to a conversation recently where somebody refered to probation as "Community Screws"
'Getafix
Similar to this, I know many offenders that refer to probation hostels as Cat E and probation licence as Cat F. ‘Free’ is when probation licence supervison ends.
DeleteSad but true, and it’s difficult to dispute when you see many recalled to prison for less than nothing by overzealous probation officers and managers with hardly any life experience or real understanding what is like to be released from prison.
If someone didn't have a drug problem entering prison and didn't develop one whilst in custody, then could being released homeless to rough sleeping be the straw that breaks the camels back?
DeleteFrom BBC.
https://www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-58836721.amp?amp_js_v=a6&_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#aoh=16350936444921&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s
'Getafix
https://www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-58836721.amp?amp_js_v=a6&_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#aoh=16350936444921&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s
“Increasingly, it's the Police Service as de facto community social workers that we must look to for enlightened social policy making, a role once very firmly in probation's bailiwick.”
DeleteAs a probation officer, this doesn’t sit right with me. The police have been taking over probation for years with drug support schemes, IOM, offender managers, they’ve hands in all of this and not always for the best. However, the police will always be the police, there to arrest, prosecute and seek out informants. I cannot ever seeing that changing, even if probation ‘leaders’ continue to be short sighted enough to hand over probation bread and butter work.
"Similar to this, I know many offenders that refer to probation hostels as Cat E and probation licence as Cat F. ‘Free’ is when probation licence supervison ends.
ReplyDeleteSad but true, and it’s difficult to dispute when you see many recalled to prison for less than nothing by overzealous probation officers and managers with hardly any life experience or real understanding what is like to be released from prison."
Although of course, it is still part of a custodial sentence, let's not forget...
"Although of course, it is still part of a custodial sentence, let's not forget..."
DeleteThen it's only right for probation to be part of the prison service???
I see this all the time. PO’s reminding clients that release is part of the prison sentence and how swiftly they’ll be recalled. Probation as an extension of the prison system and an agent of the police. Not helpful at all and the reason probation is disliked.
DeleteAlthough of course, it is still part of a custodial sentence, to be completed in the community, let's not forget...
Delete