The role of other agencies

There are a variety of agencies, in addition to the police, which can contribute to action to tackle drug supply:

• Those who are formally involved in tackling supply, albeit at a higher or specialist level e.g. Customs, Prison management.
• Those who have civil powers, which can be applied to add to sanctions against drug suppliers: most typically housing authorities and environmental health officers; or local authority anti-social behaviour order teams.
• Those who are concerned with the civic health of an area or neighbourhood – regeneration partnerships, town centre managers etc.
• Those who can supply intelligence about supply derived from their close management of those involved in supply and drug use, for other reasons: drug treatment agencies, Social Services departments, Probation etc.
• Those who are concerned about he supply of drugs near to their own homes or to their clients or users – residents associations, schools, youth clubs etc

In practice the respective contribution of these groups can be distinguished into:

• Those who can supply operational information that may be relevant to specific operations and activities but which is limited in strategic terms – Customs, prison
• Those who can only contribute in general terms about areas where supply is most prevalent rather than identifiable cases due to confidentiality – Probation, Drug teams etc 
• Those who are concerned about issues in specific localities – schools, residents associations, rather than across the breadth of a DAT or CDRP area