Dawn raids are a vital and high-profile element of drug enforcement in communities across Dundee.
Police officers in body armour move in as darkness recedes, breaking down doors, making arrests and seizing illegal substances.
They do so in the hope of loosening the grip drugs have upon the city, which has for a second successive year been named Scotland’s drug death capital.
A senior officer has, however, said that the key to removing the blight from Dundee’s streets may come from less attention-grabbing sources.
It was announced last month that drugs had become the latest addition to Tayside Division’s priority policing areas for the years until 2017.
Senior officers took the decision to dedicate additional resources to the problem in the light of the concerns of communities across the city about drug dealing and drug taking.
In an interview with The Courier, Superintendent Angela McLaren now in a new role said she believes that education and support would be the keys to reducing the prevalence of drugs and reducing criminality.
“In the coming weeks and months Police Scotland will be focusing policing resources in Dundee upon legal highs and illegal drugs in particular,” she said.
“We want to tackle the drug dealers in our streets and to create safer communities where addicts are not seen lying in our streets.
“It is not just about breaking down doors and making arrests, however, as you cannot tackle drugs through enforcement alone.
“You also need to focus upon prevention and education and for that we need to have partners on board.
“One key element of this is tackling the problem of persistent offenders, who have been unable to shake their habit and the criminal behaviour that follows. That is where the Tayside Intensive Support Service comes in.”
The service began life as a pilot scheme in Perth in August 2012 and has since been rolled out across areas policed by Tayside Division.
It sees the police work in conjunction with community partners councils in particular to reduce the harm caused by persistent offenders by supporting them and diverting them from crime.
Police Scotland said TISS has enjoyed notable successes in helping career criminals get their lives back on track.
“At the age of 24, one young Dundee man had served several short sentences for drugs, theft and anti-social behaviour offences,” said a spokeswoman.
“They put most of their offending down to a heroin habit and mental ill health, but TISS helped them with the support they need. The young man said that without support he would not have coped and would undoubtedly have returned to drug abuse.”