Street Level Up Approach (SLUA) was originally piloted in 2004. It is an ACPO led initiative with support from partner agencies including SOCA. The concept of the SLUA model is to identify and build on collaborative ways of working with law enforcement partners and others, including health and education, based on shared knowledge, common interests and mutual support in order to achieve long term and sustained harm reduction from the UK drugs markets.

This is achieved by the identification of the supply of drugs to SLUA sites, building an intelligence picture of Organised Crime Groups (OCG’s) to enable a co-ordinated law enforcement and partnership approach through all levels of crime to disrupt that supply. The project then aims to develop models to measure impact and harm reduction.

By using a co-ordinated approach between level 1, 2 and 3 activity and Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) tactics the approach aims to disrupt, dismantle and destroy activities of Organised Crime Groups and take the profit out of drugs activity.

Police Forces/Agencies currently signed up to the project are Avon & Somerset, Devon & Cornwall, Dorset, South Wales, Sussex, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Wiltshire and SOCA.

Operation Reduction was established in November 2005 and aimed to tackle both the supply and demand associated with drugs in Brighton and Hove. This was to be achieved by increasing the number of drug users in treatment, increasing the level of drug seizures and the number of individuals charged with supplying controlled drugs. By targeting these issues it was also hoped that a reduction in levels and fear of crime and antisocial behaviour in hotspot areas could be achieved.

It is now nearly four years on and the operation has achieved its objectives, continues to be successful and has been involved as one of the pilot sites for the Street Level Up Approach because of its work around harm reduction and enforcement.

Operation Hanford commenced in early 2008 in response to community concerns and intelligence. It was a test purchase operation aimed at two separate locations in the Liverpool South and Liverpool North Borough Command Units.

The strategic objective was to identify and tackle those individuals who were controlling the drug markets, in line with the Street Level Up Approach. Two distinct Organised Crime Groups (OCG) were identified, who were both dismantled at the conclusion of the operation.

Operation Tennyson was launched as a parallel investigation targeting the OCG in Liverpool North. Whilst in Liverpool South level 1 undercover officers were deployed in support of the test purchase operatives to purchase increased quantities. Both operations concluded in the spring of 2009. In excess of 50 people were arrested and charged, 12 kilos of class A drugs were recovered, 6 firearms and 300 rounds of ammunition.

This presentation will identify the principles and working practices that underpin the development of Integrated Offender Management in Bristol.

It will deal with issues of governance, finance, targeting processes and operational practice.

Research into the backgrounds of convicted violent extremists from the UK reveals that there are some common themes despite each of them being unique. These themes can be organised into a theoretical framework based on Rational Choice theory that allows us to identify risk factors that may make someone vulnerable to becoming a violent extremist.

This presentation will briefly outline the Rational Choice model and then discuss in more detail how involvement with both legal and illegal drugs is a risk factor. In addition, there will be some discussion of how violent extremists may be involved in the illegal drug market.

50% of the cocaine traded on European streets arrives via West Africa. The international community is concerned but its response outside of conference rooms tends to be uncoordinated and piecemeal. If this situation continues we will lose control as we did in Central America. We still have time but not much of it. We must think and act together and we must respond regionally- business as usual is not an option.

This presentation will explain how the UK’s Control Strategy is configured to identify the threat from drugs and agree the UK’s response. It will outline some of the work being done by SOCA and its partners as part of that response.

This workshop will discuss the “local” aspects of working in Afghanistan, and will include details of the “Sincerity Project” which involves the training

This workshop will track the journey of an offender through the Criminal Justice System, highlighting the differences which have been brought about by the introduction of Integrated Offender Management and the roles played by the various professionals presenting.

During this session, using Operation Macarise as a model, Merseyside Police will illustrate the issues surrounding confiscation and cash seizures including incentivisation and how they hope to mainstream financial investigation into everyday policing activity to improve results and enhance public confidence and satisfaction.

Operation Macarise was a covert operation based around an Organised Crime Group (OCG) based in North Liverpool regarding the supply and distribution of Class A controlled drugs. A financial investigation ran alongside the covert operation and was conducted by a dedicated Financial Investigator from the Criminal Assets Team of Merseyside Police. Utilising all available powers under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, excellent results were achieved, which dismantled this OCG.

Based on several years’ experience of teaching on courses run by West Yorkshire Police, this workshop will explore the causal relationship between drug use and violent behaviour. Rather than provide an endless list of statistical evidence, a theoretical understanding of how drug use and violence are intimately linked will be provided and discussed.

The workshop will start by examining drug use in the UK and put forward an evidence base for consumption. The key to understanding the effects of any drug is the amount used, so the importance of consumption cannot be overstated. Drug use and distribution will be discussed within a behavioural economic framework that will explore how the drug market influences behaviour.

From this understanding the risk factors for both drug use and violent behaviour will be explained. A psychological model for aggression and violent behaviour will be presented and the use of cocaine used as an example for how drugs can increase violent behaviour within the night time economy.

The Dutch recognise that their policy of tolerance in relation to cannabis may have had unforeseen consequences on their society, particularly in respect of the involvement with serious organised crime. The policy is now acknowledged to have stimulated a huge criminal market under the control of organised crime groups creating issues in relation to public health, security, monetary damage and organised crime penetration of the legitimate economy, potential public sector corruption, health and safety issues and the external image of the nation.

Formerly a significant importer of hashish, The Netherlands has steadily developed into a substantial cannabis producing country. As a result of this and the growing realisation of the effect this is having on mainstream Dutch life, the Dutch authorities have recently stepped up their efforts to clamp down on organised cannabis cultivation and the involvement of organised crime with it.

To assist in combating this growing problem (cannabis cultivation) the Dutch have created the Organised Cannabis Cultivation Programme. This presentation will cover the issues and threats posed by the problem in The Netherlands, what is being done to tackle it and the threats it poses to other nations such as the UK.

What is ‘360 Degree Market Surveillance’ and why do we need it? With increasing pressure on resources and the need to focus down activity to deliver the greatest impact, a comprehensive reflection of the UK illicit drug market will afford better tactical and strategic decisions.

Establishing ‘360 Degree Market Surveillance’ will broaden and promote a far more comprehensive understanding of the complex factors at play. Such an improved understanding as an aid to planning - helping to inform baseline assessments and then to evidence impact.

Attending this workshop will give you the opportunity to help shape this process - to consider new and innovative indicators and how they may better inform our approach to reducing the harm caused by illicit drugs.

This year we will be recognising achievement for innovative and developmental work which has proven to be of value in tackling drugs within communities.

The awards will be presented to the recipients by:
Tim Hollis QPM, Chair, ACPO Drugs Committee, Chief Constable, Humberside Police, Vice President, ACPO
Dr Moira Hamlin, Chair, Avon and Somerset Police Authority

The harm caused by organised crime can be felt at an individual or local level, throughout communities and regions as well as across national boundaries. SOCA is a harm reduction agency that is working with partners to effectively understand and then jointly deal with the causes of that harm in order to protect the citizens of the UK.

This is an opportunity to share some of SOCA’s partnership approach and strategy to Harm Reduction at a Local and Global level.

The heroin using population is ‘ageing’ but cocaine use has risen and there is growing concern about the use of so called Legal Highs. How should enforcement agencies and treatment services respond? With a general election next year, what could a new government mean for drug policy and drug treatment?

Access to effective drug treatment is a crucial part of a global, national and local approach to tackling drug misuse. Significant progress has been made in increasing the access and quality of drug treatment in England in the last few years, giving addicts the chance to turn away from drug dependency, and reducing the harm caused by drug misuse to families and communities.

Having got record numbers of drug addicts into drug treatment, the challenge is how to achieve and sustain their recovery and reintegration back into society, particularly against a challenging economic and political climate.

Engaging with young people is at the heart of resolving youth crime and drugs. We must hear from the young people themselves about why they get involved in crime. Unless we do this, we as crime reduction agents will not be able to fully understand and tackle the root causes of crime.

This presentation will share significant insight and document the findings of the Shaddywood Project as a well formulated, highly effective and successful method of youth engagement.

The Woolf Within Peter Woolf, Author and Associate, Restorative Solutions Gary Stephenson, Director, Restorative Solutions This facilitated conversation with a former prolific and violent criminal will demonstrate how a restorative intervention can provide the motivation for a drug addicted offender to change his life and become reintegrated back into a law abiding society.

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This presentation will document Dyanne’s drug use, the offences she committed to fund her habit, and her resulting prison sentence. She will discuss the courses she completed in prison, the intensive supervision from the PPO Team, working for the Sherwood Project and her current role at South Yorkshire Police.