6 2GM Saturday December 4 2021 | the times
News
Boris Johnson will pledge to dismantle
2,000 more county lines gangs by the
next election and introduce drug test-
ing on arrest for all crimes as part of a
law and order strategy to be published
on Monday.
Police will be urged to take a more
interventionist approach to closing
down drug-dealing networks with new
measures such as using data on dealers’
phones to identify and support addicts.
Drug takers found on a dealer’s
phone will be targeted with a range of
messages to discourage their use of
illegal substances and direct them
towards support. The tactic, which has
already been deployed by several police
forces, is designed to warn people that
they are not anonymous when buying
illegal drugs, a source familiar with the
strategy said.
An extra £145 million will be given to
police to help to meet a new target to
triple the number of county lines shut
down by 2024. County lines refers to
the use of a phone line in a city that acts
as a call centre managing deliveries —
usually of crack and heroin — to the
surrounding counties.
The Home Office has not disclosed
how many county lines they believe are
still operating, but in 2019 the National
Crime Agency said there were an esti-
mated 1,000 lines, with the majority
originating from London, the West
Midlands and Merseyside, and each
line making an annual profit of more
than £800,000. The prime minister’s
new target of closing down 2,000 sug-
gests the number of lines in operation
has soared in the past two years.
A separate white paper on prisons
will crack down on drugs by forcing
prison staff who are “susceptible” to
smuggling contraband into jails to walk
through new high- security scanners.
All new-build prisons will be
installed with airport-style security,
and visitors will be checked by body
scanners, sniffer dogs and handheld
detection “wands” stationed at the
gates. The tougher security will include
biometric identification for visitors to
record faces, voices and fingerprints
that can be compared across the prison
estate to detect and close down crimi-
nal networks throughout the country.
The crackdown will predominantly
target visitors, as they are seen as the
main way in which drugs and
contraband are smuggled into prisons.
The drugs strategy also contains plans
for an advertising blitz on university
campuses to warn students away from
recreational substances.
The behavioural change campaign
will be modelled on public awareness
campaigns that successfully changed
attitudes to crimes such as drink-driv-
ing. If successful, it will be expanded to
billboards, TV and radio adverts to
target the wider population.
The strategy for tackling substance
abuse is designed to reverse an alarm-
ing rise in drug offences. Police in
England and Wales recorded 175,
drug offences in 2019-20 — a rise of
13 per cent from the year before. Half of
all murders and half of acquisitive
crimes are linked to drugs, and serious
addicts occupy one in three prison
places.
Police forces will get resources to
expand drug testing on arrest, which is
designed to identify addicts and direct
them towards treatment or other
interventions before their offending
becomes more serious. Under a carrot
and stick approach drug treatment
courses will be offered to all those
whose offending is fuelled by substance
misuse.
Police tend to use saliva swabs to
check if heroin, cocaine or crack
cocaine have been taken. Alternatively,
a urine sample may be taken. The police
cannot force a suspect to be tested but
the individual faces up to three months
in prison or a fine of up to £2,500 if they
refuse to give a sample.
Every criminal who tests positive will
be given a choice of “a path to recovery
that is funded and supported” or told
that the police and criminal justice
system “will be even tougher on you”.
An overhaul of out-of-court disposal
projects will mean drug users who
refuse to attend treatment and aware-New rights and protections against
antisocial behaviour will be included
under plans for a victims’ law to be
announced by ministers next week.
All rape victims will also be given the
automatic right to pre-record evidence
under the proposals to be announced in
a consultation by Dominic Raab, the
justice secretary.
A stronger complaints system will
make it easier for victims of all offences
to raise concerns about the way they
have been treated by criminal justice
agencies, such as the police or the
courts. It will also become easier to
appeal against sentences.
The proposals will ensure victims are
recognised as “participants” in the
criminal justice system rather than
bystanders, government sources said.
Raab’s proposals will enshrine a
victims’ code into law, setting out the
minimum that victims can expect
from agencies throughout the criminal
justice system. However, most victims
Raab to offer greater rights for victims
Matt Dathan of antisocial behaviour are not recog-
nised under the code because criminal
offences have not been committed. It
means they have no statutory entitle-
ment to access victim support services.
The nature of antisocial behaviour
also means there is no specific victim
but it has an impact on the wider
community, such as graffiti, vandalism,
fly-tipping, persistent rowdy or incon-
siderate behaviour, street drinking or
street cruising.
Victims of antisocial behaviour can
seek a community resolution meeting
with police and other local agencies
only after three reported incidents over
a six-month period, but they are not
invited to attend themselves.
Raab’s proposals, which will be set
out in a consultation next week with
legislation to follow next year, would
put victims of antisocial behaviour on a
par with victims of crime. A Ministry of
Justice source said: “It’s about recognis-
ing there is never a ‘victimless’ crime.
“It’s about making sure people who
aren’t directly part of the criminal jus-
tice process, where crime has wider
implications, that there is an opportu-
nity for that wider impact to be articu-
lated in the process.”
A government source said: “We want
better recourse for victims to raise con-
cerns. We will make sure inspectorates
are regularly looking at those agencies
and holding them to account for the
way they are looking at victims.”
Reports last night said that pestering
women by making lewd comments
could become an offence under plans to
criminalise “public sexual harassment”
likely to be announced next week.
A government-commissioned
review of hate crimes will call for
aggressive sexual behaviour and
inciting hatred against women to be
made offences as part of reforms to
protect women and girls after cases
including the murder of Sarah Everard,
The Daily Telegraph said.
However, a Law Commission review
is expected to reject calls for misogyny
to be made a hate crime, after deciding
it would be ineffective.News Politics
Johnson targeting 2,000 county
ness courses face “tougher consequen-
ces” through further criminal sanc-
tions. A government source said: “It’ll
present every drug-related criminal
with a clear choice of changing their
behaviour or facing a severe punish-
ment.”
Judges will get the power to order
drug testing of anyone serving a com-
munity sentence whose offending is
related to drug use. Those who test pos-
itive will be in breach of their order and
have their sentence switched to a custo-
dial one. The extra powers for judges to
order drug testing will be made via an
amendment to the Police, Crime, Sen-
tencing and Courts Bill that is going
through parliament.
The dual strategy of offering greater
treatment and recovery services at the
same time as taking a more hardline
approach to drug-related crime has
been piloted in ten areas with the high-
est cases of drugs misuse, such as
Blackpool, Hastings, Middlesbrough,
Norwich and Swansea.
The strategy is expected to extend
Project Adder — addiction, diversion,
disruption, enforcement and recovery
— nationwide after proving successful
in diverting persistent offenders to
treatment services in the pilot scheme,
which began 18 months ago.
Project Adder has used medicines
such as naloxone and Buvidal, which
block the effects of opioids.
Dominic Raab, the justice secretary,
will publish a separate strategy on
improving discipline and reducing
drugs misuse in prisons. Inmates who
misbehave will face “immediate retri-
bution” rather than having days added
to their sentence. A prisoner who sets
fire to their cell or rips off their sink, for
example, will be forced to repair the
damage rather than going through a
“long-winded adjudication process”
that can take months, a source said.
At present if a prisoner damages
property or misbehaves, extra days can
be added to their sentence. However,
prison governors have complained that
it is a “formal, bureaucratic and lengthy
process” that can take months. “It takes
too long for the prisoner to feel the
effect of what they’ve done,” a source in
the Prison Service said.
However, a proposal to target prison
officers with tougher security measures
is likely to prove controversial with staff
and unions. A government source said:
“We are going to look at using scanners
more on staff who might be susceptible
to smuggling in contraband.”Matt Dathan Home Affairs Editor
Patrick Maguire Red Box Editor
B
oris Johnson and his
cabinet will carry out a
canvassing “blitz” ahead
of a by-election in a key
constituency amid fears of
a limp turnout of Conservative
voters (George Grylls, Steven
Swinford and Eleni Courea write).
The Tories held Old Bexley &
Sidcup despite low numbers
heading to the polls on Thursdaybut ministers are worried that
another by-election in two weeks
could run close to the wire.
Voters in North Shropshire will
choose an MP to succeed Owen
Paterson, who quit last month over
a sleaze scandal, when they go to
the polls on December 16.
Oliver Dowden, the Conservative
party co-chairman, told Tory MPs it
would be a “harder” contest than
for the southeast London
constituency. The Conservatives
held the safe Tory seat with a
significantly reduced majority on a
turnout of 34 per cent.
Louie French, the Tory candidate,
won 11,189 votes. Daniel Francis, the
Labour candidate, took second
place with 6,711. Richard Tice, the
leader of Reform UK, formerly the
Brexit Party, came third on 1,432.
Labour described the result as
“fantastic” after the party enjoyed a
10 per cent swing. ConservativeBy-election
‘blitz’ after
poll swing
to Labour
An extra £145 million will be given to
police in the fight against drugs