Revealed: How drug raids rose during lockdowns as criminals were kept off streets
Drug seizures by police in the West Midlands increased significantly during the pandemic – because a fall in crime meant they had more time to carry out raids.
Lockdowns meant there were fewer general calls to deal with, allowing officers to be pro-active in targeting dealers.
Police chiefs say Covid restrictions allowed them more capacity to crack down on drug crimes and illicit dealing.
New figures reveal Home Office data showed West Midlands Police carried out 7,086 seizures in the year to March 2021, which was up from 6,728 the year before.
Detectives raided more than 250 cannabis farms and seized around £84 million of the illicit Class B drug. Separate figures reveal more than 200 farms were raided in Staffordshire.
The West Midlands force launched a new team to tackle drugs supply chains in April 2020, which has helped lead to a string of arrests and drug seizures.
West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster pledged to keep up the effort to disrupt drug gangs, despite the pressures of crime returning post-lockdown.
He said: "Preventing and tackling drug dealing, disrupting the organised criminals who drive the drug market and providing support to those who are exploited by them is essential to reducing crime and keeping our communities safe.
"Lockdown saw crime and the demand for policing change and allowed our officers more time to make a dent against drug dealing which blights our communities.
"Continuing to prevent and tackle these problems is exactly why I am rebuilding community policing in the West Midlands with an extra 450 police officers who will help us continue to prevent and tackle crimes like this."
In 2020-2021 there were 6,250 drug crimes recorded across the West Midlands, a five per cent rise from 5,965 in 2019-2020. The offences contributed to the 210,000 logged nationally last year – a record high.
Class A drugs such as heroin and cocaine were seized by West Midlands police 1,245 times during 2020-21, but cannabis was a factor in the largest proportion of all seizures – at 83 per cent.
Variations of the class B substance were found in 5,884 seizures, with police confiscating 131,743 cannabis plants as a result. Nationally, 71 per cent of all drugs seizures involved cannabis.
Dr Laura Garius, policy lead at Release – the national centre for drugs expertise, said it was the drug most responsible for bringing people into the justice system and called for its legislation, saying doing so would prevent the criminalisation of thousands.
Policing and Crime Minister Kit Malthouse said the seizures meant some "nasty villains" had suffered huge losses, whilst Home Secretary Priti Patel praised the efforts of police and Border Force officials in their targeting of the "kingpins destroying communities".
Deputy Chief Constable Jason Harwin, drugs lead at the National Police Chiefs' Council, said the substances were potent, harmful and a "key driver in other serious criminality".
He added: “Policing takes drug crime, and the devastating impact they have for communities and individuals, incredibly seriously. We will continue to focus efforts on the criminals and organised gangs who are destroying lives and fuelling the violence we’re seeing on our streets."
