Academic

12

NEWS

The National/Thursday, January 29, 2015

Drugs justice in UK is ‘unevenly applied’ Academic: Twice as many Scots convicted than in rest of Britain EXCLUSIVE BY ANDREW LEARMONTH

J

USTICE is being “unevenly applied over the United Kingdom” after last year’s crime statistics showed that nearly twice as many people in Scotland were prosecuted for dr ugdealing than in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. And Police Scotland have admitted to The National that they do not know why this is the case. One academic who has been researching the statistics believes it is down to Police Scotland’s need to meet targets, a need that means punishing people living in areas of deprivation, and results in an unequal enforcing of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, the law which applies to all drug offences throughout the UK. In figures released by the Home Office last week there were 29,016 recorded offences of drug supply, production and trafficking between October 2013 to September 2014 – around 4.9 per 10,000 people. In Scotland, for the financial year 2013-14, there were 5,064

Dr Iain McPhee

drug supply, production and trafficking offences recorded – around 9.5 per 10,000 people. Dr Iain McPhee, senior lecturer in postgraduate alcohol and drugs studies at the University of West Scotland has lead a team of academic researchers looking into the difference in figures. The academic believes the higher rate comes from the use of Statement of Opinion Unit officers in court. These officers are generally expert witnesses from the drug squad who look at quantities of drugs recovered and investigate the background of those being prosecuted and then give expert opinion to the court as to

why they believe the suspect is a drug dealer. McPhee said he also believes these experts mean that there is a difference in the quantity of drugs needed to be a dealer in Scotland compared to the rest of the UK. A quantity which might be regarded as for “personal use” in Cardiff might be “for supply” in Aberdeen. He added that these experts were extremely influential in the courts: “Often based on their evidence the prosecutions can be successful or not successful. Often their evidence is based on several things but seems to focus mainly on the inference that quantities of drug indicate with some degrees of certainty if it can’t be used in a single session it must be for onward sale or supply, which may explain the anomaly why Scotland prosecutes almost twice as many people for dealing.” The researcher believes that the police are under pressure to secure as many drug arrests as possible, and as part of that they target areas of deprivation where easy arrests can be made. “The pressure exerted on the police to produce performance-related statistics would suggest that numbers of successful prosecutions

RNLI attend 1,004 incidents

Scrapyard fire is ‘suspicious’ A LARGE-SCALE fire which damaged cars at a vehicle scrapyard is being treated as suspicious, police said. The blaze at Nobles scrapyard in Kirkcaldy, Fife, broke out at about 10.30pm on Tuesday night and caused “substantial damage”. Fifty firefighters were involved in tackling the blaze, which was put out by around 8.30am yesterday. No-one was injured as a result of the fire in Denburn Road. “We are appealing to the public for any information,” said DCI Colin Robson.

under the Misuse of Drug Act would define success and make their activities seem cost-efficient,” he said. “But they are under a great deal of pressure to appear successful. And of course the public support many of their activities. “The police do target their scarce resources and tend to overwhelmingly focus on areas of deprivation where dealing is taking place. It is a politically embarrassing fact that many of our problem users do tend to reside in areas characterised by deprivation no matter what index is used.” But Kevin Simpson, the Statement of Opinion Unit co-ordinator at Police Scotland, rejected McPhee’s claims. He said: “I don’t accept what [Dr McPhee]is saying. Dedicated operations are intelligence-led, they go through a very robust evaluation system. We don’t just go out to target a deprived area because we can get lots of cases, that’s not our priority. What we will do is look at an area where we know there is controlled drugs supply and use in that area. “The public have an expectation that the police will go into areas and tackle the sale of controlled drugs. It’s not about tar-

Scottish RNLI crews rescued a record number of people

SCOTTISH lifeboat crews rescued a record number of people last year, new figures have revealed. Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) volunteers responded to a total of 1,004 incidents throughout 2014 and the figures show 90 children were rescued by crews working at the country’s 47 lifeboat stations. Last July, neighbouring lifeboat stations, Fraserburgh and Peterhead, were involved in two separate incidents which resulted in the saving of nine lives, including those of two children. And an all-night operation involving Lochinver and Thurso lifeboat stations rescued four people from the cargo vessel Norholm during severe gales and very rough seas near Cape Wrath.

Police officers apprehend a youth

geting deprived areas. We have evidence right across the board where we hit into all levels of drug-dealing, and right up into serious and organised crime.” However, he could not say why there was a difference in recorded offences between Scotland and the rest of UK. He said: “I can’t give you a singular reason as to why the figures are different. We have a mechanism for processing drug cases which has been in place for a number of years. It’s

Ched Evans’ fresh appeal FORMER Sheffield United and Wales footballer Ched Evans has submitted “fresh evidence” which he hopes will get his rape conviction overturned. A statement on his website says submissions were made to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) on his behalf on Friday. He claims these “strengthen” his case. Evans, 26, was released from prison after serving half of a five-year term for the rape of a 19-year-old woman in a hotel in Rhyl in 2012. An earlier appeal was rejected by judges at the Court of Appeal in 2012.

NEWS

The National/Thursday, January 29, 2015

13

Tesco to close dozens of stores across the country

A suspected of drug-taking during a stop and search in Edinburgh

a well-established project. I do know that my colleagues in England and Wales are looking in part at some of the work we do in Scotland.” In a recent survey of 31,000 people conducted by Police Scotland, drug-related crime, more than any other crime, was the public’s top priority. Simpson said the struggle to get drugs off the street would continue: “That’s what the public wants, they don’t want these substances

to be readily available. We’ll never stop it. They’ve been around for many years. I don’t sign up to the term ‘war on drugs’. Drugs are part of what we deal with on a daily basis and we’ve got to be leaner and fitter and efficient in how we deal with that.” The Scottish Government declined to comment, saying this was “an operational matter for Police Scotland”. David Liddell, director of the Scottish Drugs Forum, said that

difference could, in part, be down to the higher prevalence of drugs in Scotland: “It’s difficult to interpret why there is such a difference in prosecution rates between different jurisdictions. It could be due to differences in approaches of the prosecution services north and south of the Border, or related to different policing practices or greater availability of drugs in Scotland – certainly Scotland does have a larger drug problem per head than England.”

Minister praises £3bn road project TRANSPORT minister Derek Mackay has hailed another “milestone” in the £3 billion plans to dual the main road north. Mr Mackay visited a stretch of the A9 where ground investigation works have recently begun ahead of a £50 million contract being awarded to upgrade the 7.5km-long (four miles) section of the road between Kincraig and Dalraddy in the Highlands. Construction work is expected to start on the stretch this summer, with Mr Mackay saying it would “mark the beginning of a series of major upgrades” on the road. The Scottish Government has pledged to convert the A9 to dual carriageway between Perth and Inverness, though the work is not due to be finished until 2025

Minister Derek Mackay

due to the scale of the scheme. In a bid to improve safety on the road, average speed cameras were installed along much of it last year – with figures this week showing a decline in speeding after they were switched on. Mr Mackay said: “Making the A9 safer is our key priority as work to upgrade Scotland’s longest trunk road progresses – with one of our safety measures

already showing positive changes to driver behaviour. “These improvements should be welcomed and in addition to these safety measures, we are the first government to make the £3bn commitment to dual the A9 from Perth to Inverness which will further improve the safety record of this road.” Mr Mackay added: “Construction work which is due to start this summer will mark the beginning of a series of major upgrades amounting to around 130km (80 miles) of new upgraded road. “Despite a 26 per cent cut to our capital budget by the UK Treasury, we are delivering on our commitment to dual the A9 as early as possible having already brought this scheme forward by around six months.”

TOTAL OF 326 jobs are to be lost in Scotland as part of Tesco’s store closures. Kirkcaldy, Edinburgh, Grangemouth and Troon are all hit by the closures which will see 43 stores and 2,000 jobs lost across the UK. In Scotland, Kirkcaldy is worst affected with the loss of 189 jobs at the Tesco superstore while 55 jobs will be lost in Edinburgh when the Homeplus store closes, with 68 going in Grangemouth and 14 being axed at Troon. The job losses are on top of the troubled retailer’s announcement earlier this month that plans for seven new Tesco stores and one major extension planned for Scotland would not now go ahead. Plans for stores in Aviemore, Banff, Crieff, Cowdenbeath, Cupar, East Kilbride, Glasgow Harbour and Fort William are also being abandoned. Yesterday, Tesco announced the full list of existing stores that are to be axed with Troon and Edinburgh closing on March 15 and Kirkcaldy and Grangemouth closing on April 4. Retail union Usdaw said yesterday that the closures were “devastating news” for the staff who had worked hard to make their shops viable during a “difficult time.” “We will now enter into full and meaningful consultation meetings on this proposal, where we will look closely at the company’s business case for the closures,” said national officer Pauline Foulkes. “Our priority is to maximise employment within Tesco, seek redeployment opportunities for members where possible, and to keep job losses to a minimum.” The cuts at Tesco have come after falling sales and a recent accounting scandal which revealed a

Dave Lewis CEO Tescos.

£263m hole in expected profits. New chief executive Dave Lewis said the company “quite simply could not afford” the planned stores and that the ones to be closed were “a drain on the finances of the business.” He said: “Earlier this month I announced that our performance as a business has fallen significantly short of where we would want it to be and that to protect the future of the business in the UK we would close 43 unprofitable stores. “It is with great sadness that I have to tell you that stores in Edinburgh, Kirkcaldy, Grangemouth and Troon are included in the 43 we plan to close. The decision to close these stores has been exceptionally difficult to take. “I recognise it will affect many hard-working colleagues, our customers and the communities in which these stores are situated. “Our priority is to explain what this announcement means for our colleagues and wherever possible, offer them alternative roles with Tesco. “I would like to thank all our customers who have shopped in our stores. We will continue to do our best to serve them at our stores across Scotland and through our dotcom service.” Tesco’s announcement contrasts with news from Waitrose on Tuesday of plans for 2,000 jobs in new shops and at existing sites.