Treatment aimed at driving out drink and drug offences in West Midlands

In his annual report, the region’s Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster said half of serious crimes, such as murder and theft, were drug-related.

And he hailed ‘innovative work’ being carried out by a range of different partners to try to tackle substance abuse issues and, in turn, reduce crime.

Figures presented in the annual report showed the total number of people in drug and alcohol treatment in Birmingham in 2023/24 was 8,490 compared with 8,177 the previous year. Of these, 3,542 were using services for the first time.

In Coventry, 2,025 people underwent treatment, while there were 1,777 in Dudley, 2,095 in Sandwell, 1,177 in Solihull, 1,785 in Walsall and 1,899 in Wolverhampton.

All of these represented increases on the number of service users from the 2022/23 year.

In the report, Mr Foster said: “It has been estimated that half of all homicides and acquisitive crimes are drug related.

“Accordingly, preventing and reducing substance misuse might be the single most important action that we can take to tackle crime and make our communities safer.

“Policing alone cannot resolve the issue of drugs in our community.

“I am committed to the innovative work being done by my office, to work with a wide range of partners and to deliver a whole-system approach and to cut drug-related crime and harm.

“Ensuring a joined-up local system is vital and the publication of the Government’s 10-year Drug Strategy ‘From Harm to Hope’ in 2021, has resulted in the development of partnerships across the country to steer how progress against the aims of the strategy are delivered.

“I continue to chair the West Midlands Combating Drugs and Alcohol Partnership (CDAP), which was established in August 2022, as Senior Responsible Owner.

“In this role, I have been able to represent the partnership at a national level and support progress against the national outcomes that are being sought.

“The partnership has undertaken a range of activities to support an improved response by all partners across enforcement, treatment and prevention to the harms caused by drugs.

“For example, the partnership has worked to increase numbers in treatment in all West Midlands local authority areas during 2023-2024 compared to the previous year, including reaching and engaging those whose needs had not previously been met by treatment services.”