Third of people caught with hard drugs are let off by police

MORE than a third of people caught with class-a drugs such as cocaine and heroin are being let off, analysis by The Telegraph has shown, sparking fears that they are being legalised by stealth.

Home Office data analysed by The Telegraph revealed that 39.2 per cent of people caught with hard drugs, other than cannabis, avoided a criminal record and were handed community resolutions or let off any action “in the public interest” last year. It represents a fivefold increase since 2016, when the proportion was just 7.5 per cent.

Community resolutions are supposed only to be used for “low-level” offences. However, MPS have warned that in the absence of government direction, police forces appeared to be crafting their own policies where first-time offenders were not being prosecuted even for possession of class-a drugs.

It is thought about half of the 43 police forces now run “diversion” or “deferred” prosecution schemes where first-time drug offenders caught with small amounts of cannabis or class-a substances avoid prosecution if they agree to education or treatment. If they fail to attend or are caught a second time, they are prosecuted.

In one force, Surrey, 76 per cent of people caught with drugs other than cannabis were given community resolutions, or police decided further action was not in the public interest.

This was almost seven times the rate as in the neighbouring Metropolitan Police force where 12.9 per cent avoided prosecution, and 30 times the rate in Warwickshire, where just 2.5 per cent avoided a criminal prosecution.

Tim Loughton, a member of the Commons’ home affairs committee, said while there was a “soft touch” in Surrey and Thames Valley, those in inner cities faced criminal sanctions.

“There needs to be a more uniform process,” he said. “It is important we are not moving towards acceptance or legalisation of hard drugs by stealth.” Kit Malthouse, the former home office minister, said he was concerned that a two-year delay in turning drug proposals he made into law meant police and prosecutors were “crafting a system themselves, which is not their job”.

Of the 23,276 cases where police had sufficient evidence to charge someone in possession of drugs (excluding cannabis), 7,009 were given community resolutions. Action against a further 2,116 cases was deemed to be “not in the public interest” by either officers or the Crown Prosecution Service.

A National Police Chiefs’ Council spokesman said: “Officers are making decisions about whether it is fair and proportionate to give someone a criminal record for their first minor offence – when they’ve admitted responsibility, offered to remedy the crime, are considered unlikely to reoffend and can be given a sanction that deters further offending such as attending an educational course.”