DRUGS TSAR TO TARGET ORGANISED CRIME

New Chief Of Enforcement Agency Aims To Shift Focus From Drugs Seizures To
Netting Top 100 Criminals

SEIZING large quantities of heroin or cocaine on the way into Britain is
almost useless in the fight against drugs according to the new head of the
Scottish Drugs Enforcement Agency who said police instead needed to tackle
the "underlying logic of crime".

Graeme Pearson, currently assistant chief constable at Strathclyde Police,
will take over from Jim Orr, who retired in January, as director of the agency.

He said he would steer the agency towards a broader crusade against
approximately 100 major league organised criminals active in Scotland, and
the profits of their crimes.

The drug enforcement agency should not be restricted by artificial
distinctions between different kinds of illegal behaviour, as the drug
barons are not, he said.

"We've come to learn that if you are going to attack those involved in drug
supply and drug dealing, what you need to do is come at them from all
directions. Those who gain profit from drugs are also involved in
counterfeiting, smuggling, pornography and human trafficking.

"If we stop drugs tomorrow, will organised crime stop? The answer is no,"
Pearson said. "We have paid a lot of attention over the years to seizing
kilos of white powder, but that is not enough. Unfortunately there are
countries in the world that can produce any amount of heroin or cocaine. We
can keep making seizures but the SDEA's role is to attack the higher level
of criminality ."

Pearson said that the Proceeds of Crime Act was enabling forces to seize
the assets of major drug dealers, and Scottish forces are now equipped with
officers trained in financial investigation techniques which should make
the powers more effective.

Set up in June 2000, the SDEA will now work with other agencies such as the
Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise to tackle crime and seize the
proceeds, he said. It will also work internationally, as serious crime is
now a transnational problem.

Individual police forces will continue to tackle local criminals, he said.
"I believe that the public want to see the scheme criminals caught. They
want to see them losing their assets and those assets being used for other
things, such as community projects."

Such efforts will continue, but the SDEA will work at a higher level and
must work much better with other agencies such as customs and the tax
authorities. In some cases a conviction for dealing in drugs may not be
pursued if a better impact can be achieved elsewhere, Pearson argued.

"We should not be bound by an individual agency's need to get a result. We
should pursue the course that gets the best result for law enforcement. In
some cases, instead of a criminal charge, authorities have used the
Proceeds of Crime Act or in other cases passed it to customs or the Inland
Revenue. It is controversial but that is what the pubic demand," he said.

The SDEA would not tolerate the "cannabis cafe" which has been proposed in
Edinburgh, there or anywhere else in Scotland, Pearson said, adding that
reclassification was a "false move".

"Criminals gain profit from cannabis and it is an offence to possess or
abuse it. If you remove it from criminality you legitimise it and there are
thousands of parents who will tell you of their misery in relation to kids
getting involved in cannabis."

Pearson said "apologists" who depicted cannabis as no worse than alcohol
were muddying the waters, and medical opinion was increasingly drawing
attention to the damaging effects of the drug on people's mental health.

"People need to understand that the person who brings cannabis to Scotland
is as likely to have four kilos of cocaine and two of heroin ."

Pearson was also critical of calls for the legalisation of heroin which
have come from, among others, the chief constable of North Wales Police
Richard Brunstrom.

" I don't think it would gain support in Scotland," Pearson said. "It would
not deal a blow to organised crime because the criminals would simply find
a new commodity."

With reference to the "shooting galleries" seen in some countries where
addicts can legally take heroin he added: " You have hundreds of young
people gathering about outside, some don't have the patience to queue and
so they sit in the public street injecting outside. It is no way for human
beings to exist."

Instead, he praised the Scottish Executive's social inclusion approach. "It
is not about one area of activity, but getting health right, social work
support and getting the economy right ," he said.

Cathy Jamieson announced Pearson's appointment on Friday. The Scottish
Executive has pledged to expand the work of the SDEA.