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The team tasked with getting criminals on the straight and narrow

"We can either be their best friend or their worst enemy." So speaks Sgt Colin Gallier - part of a policing team tasked with turning Sandwell's most prolific offenders away from a life of crime.

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The officers, who work with probation, drug treatment and mental health experts to manage 250 prolific high risk offenders living in Sandwell - up to 80 per cent of whom have drug problems - are already making a difference.

New figures show re-offending rates by this group have fallen to the lowest levels in the country - just 5.3 per cent - with the number of 15 to 25 year olds using heroin and cocaine in the area also falling and increasing numbers of addicts under treatment.

The criminals the officers are dealing with are usually involved in crimes such as burglary, mugging and theft to pay for their next fix.

The specialist 23-strong police team meets with the other agencies each month to discuss the progress of the worst 50 offenders - half of whom can be in custody at any one time - while all 250 under police management have weekly updated 'scores' with points awarded for things like an arrest, caution or positive drug test.

Arron Owen (left) and Neil Parkes

Each member of the police team each has personal responsibility for around 20 of the criminals. They discover what triggers the offending and either control those unwilling to be rehabilitated with curfews, exclusion orders and bans on associating with specific individuals, or assist others to change their ways. Sgt Colin Gallier, from the squad, explained: "We can either be their best friend or worst enemy."

The statistics are impressive. Officials say drug treatment is preventing more than 35,000 crimes a year being committed in Sandwell.

Nationally the figure is estimated to be 4.9 million but the annual cost of drug misuse in the UK still tops £15 billion.

Over the last few weeks there has been a series of co-ordinated raids across the Black Country and Birmingham as West Midlands Police push forward with their crackdown on drug related crime, with suspects charged with a range of offences, from

A heavy user of hard drugs spends around £90-a-day on heroin and cocaine and any offender with a serious drug problem not under treatment is reckoned to commit around £26,000 worth of crime a year. Their chaotic lifestyle often means they do not receive benefits after missing appointments.

Latest data suggests that drug treatment in Sandwell prevented over 35,000 crimes in 2012/13 and every £1 invested in that treatment saves an estimated £3.75 in crime,welfare and health costs. This means the £2.5m-a-year presently spent could be worth over £9m.

The borough - regularly ranked among the dozen most deprived areas in the country - has around 2,000 dependent heroin and cocaine users with the number receiving treatment having risen sharply from 800 to 1000 in the past year. At the same time 100 people living there have become drug free after successfully completing the programme. Several have since found work.

Arron Owen, Sandwell manager of the IRIS drug project being run by a 40-plus team from Cranstoun(corr), a substance misuse treatment charity, under a £2.5m-a-year three year contract - supported by volunteers and mentors - stressed: "This is not about waving a magic wand. There is no silver bullet. It is a question of helping them along the way.

"It is challenging and hard work but the best advert is word of mouth. If folk are happy with the service they will encourage others to give it a try and people who see acquaintances become clean are more likely to get involved themselves."

Recovered former addicts are used to mentor those trying to kick the habit while anybody who tests positive for opiates after arrest is given a mandatory appointment with a drug work and re-arrested if they do not attend.

Anti Social Behaviour(ASB) officers and others target the young by giving talks to schools. Youths are not immediately charged or cautioned after being detained for an offence. A weekly meeting of a multi agency panel decides if there is a better solution to turn them away from crime.

Officials work closely with problem families to steer them away from crime. ASB officers were involved with 50 drug related cases in the 12 months up to March, representing 11 per cent of their total workload, three per cent less than the previous year. Since April last year there have been seven evictions.

Figures produced by Liverpool John Moore's University show the number of 15 to 24-year-olds using heroin and or crack cocaine in Sandwell fell from 493 to 243 in two years up to 2012.

Officers on a raid in Hill Top, West Bromwich

This is attributed to better education for school children about the dangers of drugs but other factors such as stronger cannabis, cheaper alcohol, legal 'highs' and a generation more risk averse than their predecessors may also be relevant.

Maria Smith, the drugs project manager for Sandwell Council, said: "I am encouraged by this and see it as a positive that young people are not back filling for those moving up the age scale. Hopefully this is the start of a long term trend because we are still dealing with the fall out from the national heroin epidemic of the 80s and 90s."

Neil Parkes, programme manager for drugs, alcohol and sexual health in the borough, added: "Drug and alcohol centres were seen as specialist units that were distant from the community but now people realise that it is everybody's problem.

"They very rarely turn up with just drug problems. We work with all the other agencies, such as health, children's services, the police and probation. We are all flexible and talk to each other. Similar schemes are now operating throughout the country but we do it better than most.

"The change started with the introduction of a ten year national drug strategy in 1997 which linked acquisitive crime and drugs. It has been slow going but the problem has gradually been taken more seriously and now we are tackling the root causes. I am cautiously optimistic about the future."

Miss Smith concluded: "This is not about an individual agency. We have all combined to achieve this."

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