Police detection rates boosted to 97.3 per cent (From York Press)

North Yorkshire Police detection rates boosted to 97.3 per cent

9:05am Wednesday 29th August 2012 in News By Jennifer Bell, Crime reporter

ALMOST 500 drug crimes were uncovered by police in North Yorkshire in the space of three months, new figures have revealed.

The figures for the first quarter of this year show 487 drug offences were recorded between April and June. This represents a 14 per cent fall in the number of offences – down by 83 offences – from the same period last year.

Of the 487 drug busts, 74 per cent were for cannabis offences, seven per cent for cocaine and five per cent for heroin.

In total, there were 308 cannabis possessions, 29 cocaine possessions and 19 heroin possessions. There were a further 28 offences of possession of drugs with intent to supply, eight supply of drugs and 36 cannabis production offences.

The rundown of figures, which will be put before North Yorkshire Police Authority, shows the 14 per cent reduction in the first quarter of this year follows a six per cent rise in total of drug offences in 2011/12 compared to 2010/11, with 2,169 crimes recorded in total.

The performance report also revealed that the region saw 6,678 drug offences between April 2009 and June 2012, with officers saying stop-checks among night-time revellers have boosted their detection rates to 97.3 per cent.

The performance report said that of these 6,678 drug offences, 63 per cent were possession of cannabis. A further 26 per cent were possession of other drugs and 11 per cent were trafficking offences.

It said: “It is evident that many of the offences recorded have emanated from the use of policing powers such as stop checks, particularly around the night-time economy, or where possession of a drug has come to light when the offender has been detained for another offence.”

Significant drug operations by police teams include Operation KAPOK which saw 180 cannabis plants and “a large quantity of sophisticated equipment was seized”.

There were five people charged with offences relating to conspiracy to produce Class B drugs and money-laundering and one charged with allowing a premises to be used for the purpose of cannabis cultivation.

The report said the drugs trend in North Yorkshire over the last three financial years show a slight increase.