Mr. John D. TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what was the average number of officers of the Royal Ulster Constabulary in the drug squad in each of the past 10 years; and if he will make a statement 753W about the presence of illegal drugs in Northern Ireland. [24957]
§ Sir John WheelerEvery operational RUC officer is aware of the drugs issue and is a resource in combating drugs offences within Northern Ireland. At sub-divisional level, there are some 70 officers operating within 30 drugs liaison units whose sole responsibility is to address the problems of drug offences at a local level.
The headquarters drugs squad itself over the past 10 years has had on average 36 officers, arising from 34 in 1985 to a present strength of 44 officers, including the recent upgrading to Detective Superintendent of the post of head of drugs squad.
Northern Ireland, like other parts of the UK and Europe, does have an identifiable problem in the availability of illegal drugs, although it does not yet suffer the widespread abuse of drugs found elsewhere. One indicator of the availability of illegal drugs is the rate of seizures by the RUC; the Chief Constable's report for 1994 gives full details of drug seizures by the RUC and other agencies, which show a clear upward trend.
The Government, together with the RUC and other agencies, both statutory and voluntary, are committed to a robust multi-agency approach to tackle effectively all aspects of the drugs problem in Northern Ireland.