Drugs and crime teams ‘must merge’

Drug action teams and crime and disorder reduction partnerships
should merge, Home Office minister Bob Ainsworth told MPs last
month.

Ainsworth said that from 1 April the Police Reform Act 2002 would
make it statutory for local authorities, police and others to
implement a drugs strategy that supports their crime and disorder
strategies.

Multi-agency partnerships were the best way to deliver these
strategies, he said, but pointed out that drug action teams and
crime and disorder reduction partnerships were currently
separate.

Ainsworth added that in order to ensure they were properly
resourced and to reduce the risk of overlap “this government
believes partnerships should be brought together through merger or,
where that is truly not feasible, by developing closer working
arrangements”.