POLICE OFFICERS ARE 'REGULARLY TAKING ECSTASY AND CANNABIS'

A subculture of drug use permeates sections of the British police force,
according to new research by a criminologist and a former chief superintendent.

The researchers found that some young officers, up to the rank of
inspector, were regularly taking ecstasy and cannabis. Several officers
also held "seminars" with their dealers, telling them what to say if they
were arrested and where to stash their supply if raided.

Reports of the drug abuse among members of the British police service come
at a time when there have been renewed calls for the decriminalisation of
cannabis.

David Wilson, Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Central
England, Birmingham, spent two years gaining the trust of officers from
several forces.

He said: "It was a startling result. From talking to a variety of police
officers from a variety of forces I found that there was a very strong
subculture of drug taking."

But he argued: "When you consider how many 20-year-olds take drugs it is
not surprisingly that some of the people who join the police are also drug
users. What was surprising was the willingness of some police officers to
give their suppliers mini-seminars about how to avoid detection and what to
do when arrested."

Professor Wilson added that some officers also arranged weekends to
Amsterdam to consume drugs and were heavily involved in the rave scene
while off duty.

The findings are contained in a forthcoming book, called What Everyone In
Britain Should Know About the Police, which has been co-written with
Douglas Sharp, course director of the Criminal Justice and Policing degree
at UCE, who is a former chief superintendent of West Midlands Police.

The authors believe that police are "doomed to failure" if they concentrate
on rebranding themselves as crime-fighters and "mini Robo Cops".

Professor Wilson said: "They need to actively engage in gaining the support
of the public within the communities they serve."

Fred Broughton, chairman of the Police Federation, which represents
rank-and-file officers, disputed the new research. "It is our experience
that police officers in England and Wales are law-abiding professionals
intent on tackling the drugs menace, not adding to it," he said