This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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New campaign to help catch drug dealers
15/02/2005
Assets seized from convicted criminals will pay for a campaign to encourage members of the public to inform on drug dealers in their community.
The campaign was launched today by First Minister Jack McConnell during a visit to Craigheads estate in Barrhead, where he met local residents and community police officers.
The advertising campaign 'Dealers Don't Care, Do You? is funded by money seized from criminals under the Proceeds of Crime Act and operated in partnership with Crimestoppers Scotland and the Association of Chief Police Officers.
The First Minister said:
"This new campaign says to ordinary, hard working Scots that their actions can make a difference. If you speak out you can get rid of dealers in your community. If you speak out, you can provide the evidence that the police need to put criminals behind bars.
"We are determined to ensure that we hit dealers hard where it hurts most - in their pockets. And the more people who give anonymous information to Crimestoppers, the better chance we will have of taking money from criminals and reinvesting it in the communities hardest hit by drugs."
Stewart McCulloch, Chairman of Crimestoppers Scotland, said:
"Drug dealers ruin lives and Crimestoppers Scotland is proud to spearhead the Executive campaign Drug Dealers Don't Care, which we hope will disrupt the flow of drug dealing in Scotland; saving lives and taking people away from the scourge of the menace.
"The public have the solution…call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. It's easy, it's anonymous and just one call can make a difference."
Assistant Chief Constable Norma Graham of Central Scotland Police, representing the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, said:
"Community intelligence is the lifeblood of our operations against drug dealers. If it were not for such vital information coming from the very heart of our communities our efforts to take drugs off the streets would be severely hampered.
"We have many examples of drug dealers being brought to justice because local people have had the courage to pick up the phone and tell us what they know about local drug dealers in their area.
"Often the police may not act on that information immediately, for a number of reasons, but we guarantee that it will form part of a jigsaw of intelligence we will use to target drug dealers."
This campaign, devised by the Leith Agency, provides an emotional trigger as well as a call to action. It aims to encourage people to provide anonymous information on drug dealers and drug dealing activity in their area to Crimestoppers Scotland which will then be passed on to the relevant force to take appropriate action.
The campaign will run until March 31, 2005 and includes national and local press adverts, local radio adverts, outdoor posters, posters on buses and the Glasgow underground, toilet posters and stickers, and beer mats in pubs and clubs.
Towards the later part of the campaign there will also be a targeted direct mail-out to homes in areas hardest hit by drugs. For the first time, this will enable the public to give anonymous information, by post, to Crimestoppers.
The campaign will run under the banner of Crimestoppers Scotland using their national call number and call centre, based within the Scottish Criminal Records Office. It is being funded entirely through assets seized from criminals under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. In future years, such funding will be used to help regenerate and improve areas hardest hit by drugs. Further details on this will be announced later this year. However, it is planned that the funding will be made available through Community Safety Partnerships to:
- fund innovative schemes that will produce tangible and visible improvements to communities to make these better, safer places to live and work - for example removing graffiti, fixing vandalism or introducing community clear-up campaigns.
- provide capital investment for local regeneration schemes, for example helping to reclaim public areas for community use or creating improved facilities for children and young people.
The total cost of the campaign is £1 million - this includes all the advertising and PR activity, and extra staff costs at Crimestoppers associated with the anticipated increase in calls during the campaign.