Police recovered more than £600,000 worth of controlled drugs in a three-month 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 a few weeks after a six-figure cannabis and heroin recovery from a vehicle stopped on the A90.
Mr McIntosh said: “The impact that 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.
“Some of the ward figures show that there hasn’t been recovery of drugs linked to supply, but that doesn’t mean that there has not been work done there.”
Violent crime in Angus for the quarter showed a slight dip, with small reductions in both serious (18 to 17) and petty 348 to 346) assaults from the same period last year.
But despite a slight decrease in domestic violence incidents – down 9.4% from 308 to 279 in comparison to 2016 – police say offending levels are still unacceptably high having more than doubled in the last five years.
“Police Scotland is working in partnership with Angus Violence Against Women Partnership and other agencies to deliver a variety of supportive and preventative programmes,” added Mr McIntosh.
“The majority of our violence happens indoors. Angus in the public arena has never been a safer place but there are issues arising such as party flats that link into anti-social behaviour and fights, and kinship violence within the domestic setting.
“Moving forward, the adult protection committee, child protection committee and Violence Against Women Partnership have been amalgamated under the newly-formed Protecting People Angus. This is a positive move and one that Police Scotland supports.
“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.”
