The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
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Meanwhile, violent crime in Angus for the quarter fell, with small drops in both serious and petty assaults
Police recovered more than £600,000 worth of controlled drugs in a threemonth period in Angus as part of the ongoing fight against the scourge.
The quarterly figure for April to June represents a 30% reduction in supply, production and cultivation detections from the same period last year, but Angus’s police commander has said there will be no complacency or let up in the battle against dealers.
The drugs statistics were part of Chief Inspector David McIntosh’s quarterly report to Angus scrutiny committee councillors which also revealed the continuing scale of the county’s domestic violence problem.
In May, £450,000 worth of heroin and cocaine was recovered in an Arbroath operation, just weeks after a six-figure cannabis and heroin recovery from a vehicle stopped on the A90.
Mr McIntosh said: “The impact these groups can have on our communities and vulnerable should not be underestimated.
“Tackling drugs is still a particular focus of ours, with intelligence-led operations using a little more finesse than in the past and there have been some really good results in that regard.
“Tackling drugs is still a particular focus of ours, with intelligenceled operations using a little more finesse than in the past. CH INSP DAVID MCINTOSH
“Some of the ward figures show there hasn’t been recovery of drugs linked to supply, but that doesn’t mean there has not been work done there.”
Violent crime in Angus for the quarter showed a dip, with small reductions in serious (18 to 17) and petty 348 to 346) assaults from the same period in 2016.
But despite a slight decrease in domestic violence incidents – down 9.4% from 308 to 279 in comparison to last year – police say offending levels are still unacceptably high having more than doubled in the last five years.
Mr McIntosh added: “Police Scotland is working in partnership with Angus Violence Against Women Partnership and other agencies to deliver a variety of supportive and preventative programmes.”
He continued: “Moving forward, the adult protection committee, child protection committee and Violence Against Women Partnership have been amalgamated under the newly-formed Protecting People Angus.
“People feeling safe in their homes in Angus continues to be vitally important to Police Scotland. Considerable work is conducted in this regard from preventative patrols, targeting of offenders and thorough investigation.”