Staffordshire police chief: Let's help drug offenders

Assistant Chief Constable Adderley, who has been in the job for a couple of months after moving from Greater Manchester Police, wants to avoid criminalising people and potentially marking them for the rest of their lives for what could be perceived as minor offences.

He said: "We've been working hard on out-of-court settlements as we think how do we steer people away from the traditional justice process and towards life chances?

"In 2015 we had 901 people we gave the option of an out-of-court settlement to and 95 per cent took it and completed it. The other five per cent were prosecuted through the normal way.

"If you're 17 you don't want to be criminalised and have a criminal record which might affect your future job prospects.

"We want to give people opportunities not to be criminalised and that's really important. We want to help and support people. This is a proportionate response."

Mr Adderley was speaking exclusively to the Express & Star after it was revealed last month that more than 7,000 people across Staffordshire had been arrested for drug offences in the past five years. Contained in the figures were some 2,094 charged with cannabis and cannabis resin and 400 for possession of heroin.

The overall figures were at their lowest last year and Mr Adderley said he would make sure that his force were not being 'less proactive'.

He said: "In terms of traditional drugs such as MDMA there's still some concern over that and the use of cannabis, nothing has changed. The fact the arrests has declined is something we need to look at to make sure there's nothing we are doing to affect that such as being less proactive, which I don't think we are.

"Over the next few months I will be encouraging people to use our Crimestoppers service to help us identify crack dens. In cases where we have the high-end dealers we work very closely with the National Crime Agency.

"For me it's trying to understand more around what are the social aspects causing drug taking to take place. The dependence on drugs and alcohol causes me a lot of trouble, I want to know where the dependence comes from and why.

"What isn't taken into account in the figures are trends such as austerity. We have to get a better understanding. Early intervention is also really important.

"If we get our job right I would like to see all the figures fall. What are the drivers if you take recreational drugs? I am sure most people will say they have no intention to become a criminal they just want to get off their face."

Mr Adderley also spoke strongly about the use of legal highs in the county. He warned that it is 'not long' before there are more deaths and spoke of the effects which see people go 'bonkers' and 'absolutely mental'.

He added: "There's two things with legal highs: one they are readily available and easy to produce; the second is the lack of education around the health effects and that's why the Government are working on legislation.

"What we see as frontline police are the alarming effects where people are completely out of it. They don't know who they are or where they are."