Communities urged to report concerns over drug dealing to police
Offenders posing as van drivers
DRUG dealers are being snared and forced through the courts by a team specialising in tackling criminals who cause the most misery in Portsmouth.
The city’s high harm team has put 40 cases through the crown court in 10 months, with 220 stop checks and 1,200 intelligence logs made in that period.
Inspector Scott Johnson’s two sergeants and 11 PCs target dealers peddling crack and heroin on the streets.
He warned that in lockdowns dealers knew the ‘risk had gone up’ in being spotted but that many adapted by posing as delivery drivers.
It comes as the Safer Portsmouth Partnership said that a nine-month review of drug-related violence in Hampshire found the city saw the second highest level in the county, with many incidents linked to knives.
The report added ‘not much’ drug-linked violence is reported in Hampshire overall.
Insp Johnson said ‘drugrelated harm is the mainstay of the high harm team’s work,’ including intelligence gathering – identifying those involved.
Young people are still exploited by criminal gangs, with them forced into dealing drugs on the streets.
Insp Johnson, who praised his team’s knowledge of the city, said the key to tackling the scourge of the drug trade was information from the public.
He said: ‘My message to the community is that we do rely on those communities to report concerns to us.
‘The information that communities – people, businesses, schools, health, neighbours and indeed families – who are concerned about young people whose behaviour might suddenly change is to reach out. If not to the police, then others.’
He added: ‘If you have concerns about the neighbours, suddenly there’s lots of comings and goings... that’s what we want to hear about.’
But he warned that ‘functioning’ drug users are still part of the problem, and are putting their money into an ‘awful industry’.
He said: ‘If someone who is using a drug and functioning, and doesn’t see that they’re causing a problem, if they like it or not, they’re part of the problem.’
If you have concerns about the neighbours, that’s what we want to hear about. Inspector Scott Johnson