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Drug seizures down
Of course, it's impossible to know that proportion of drugs imported into and used in England and Wales were seized and very tempting to attribute any drop in seizures to the reduction in the number of police personnel.

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Fewer police = fewer seizures?

Earlier this month (5 November 2015), the Home Office published data on the number of drug seizures made in 2014/15 in England and Wales by the police (including the British Transport Police) and Border Force.

The key findings were:

  • There were 167,059 drug seizures in England and Wales in 2014/15 (including estimated figures), a 14 per cent decrease on the number of drug seizures in 2013/14 (194,346). Over the same time period, there was also a 14 per cent decrease in the number of police recorded drug offences, which is highly correlated with the number of drug seizures.
  • Seizures by police forces decreased by 15 per cent between 2013/14 and 2014/15 (from 188,499 to 160,933) whereas seizures made by Border Force increased by five per cent (from 5,847 seizures to 6,126).
  • The majority of seizures (96%) were made by police forces in England and Wales; however, Border Force seizures tended to be for larger quantities. In terms of quantity, Border Force seized 91 per cent of all cannabis resin, 82 per cent of the total amount of ecstasy and 79 per cent of the total amount of cocaine.

Seizures of Class A drugs

It’s interesting to look in a little more detail at the trends in seizures of Class A drugs: there was an interesting disparity between the amount of cocaine seized (down by 1% on the previous year) and that of heroin (up 72%). In more detail:

  • Between 2013/14 and 2014/15, seizures of Class A drugs decreased by ten per cent from 32,847 in 2013/14 to 29,705 in 2014/15.
  • Cocaine was the most commonly seized Class A drug, with just over half of all Class A seizures involving this substance. In 2014/15, there were 15,815 seizures of cocaine, down six per cent on the previous year (16,913 seizures).
  • There was also a small decrease in the quantity of cocaine seized between 2013/14 and 2014/15, from 3,416 kilograms in 2013/14 to 3,387 kilograms in 2014/15, a decrease of one per cent.
  • In 2014/15 there was a large increase in the quantity of heroin seized (by both police forces and Border Force) from 647 kilograms in 2013/14 to 1,113 kilograms in 2014/15, an increase of 72 per cent.

Of course, it’s impossible to know that proportion of drugs imported into and used in England and Wales were seized and very tempting to attribute any drop in seizures to the reduction in the number of police personnel.

Nevertheless, the report makes interesting reading and is helpfully summarised in a Home Office infographic:

Drug seizures 201415

Is it overly cynical to expect seizures to fall further next year as the number of police officers continues to decrease?

 

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