Under drug testing on arrest, police can test people in custody for the presence of opiates, such as heroin, or cocaine in order to better understand the role of drug use in certain crimes, known as “trigger offences”, such as burglary and robbery.
Drug testing is a powerful tool for identifying drug use. A positive drug test for heroin or cocaine use can ensure the person can access treatment and other support to tackle their drug-related offending.
The Home Office offer opportunities for funding to be sought to enhance/expand Drug test on arrest, the OPCC supports this in partnership with SWP and leads on bids for Home office funding.
Examples of previously awarded funding:
The OPCC was successful in obtaining £95,000 across the two delivery years.
The additional funding increased support provision for overtime for wider coverage across the South Wales Police Custody suites.
Across the 2 delivery years the following was achieved:
- 1690 – Total number of contacts – physically seen in cell
- 4164.6 – Total number of additional hours worked
- 3626 – Hours of remote screening
- 1202 – Total number of drug tests requested across the additional hours