£4million in drugs seized and 108 arrests made by police in Wakefield

The team reached this milestone when they recovered an estimated £44,100 worth of Cannabis Plants from an address on Grafton Street, Castleford on Monday, October 3.

Formed in October last year, the Neighbourhood Impact Team were initiated through funding from Project Adder to target drugs supply chains and related criminality whilst also helping those with drug addiction on their way to recovery.

Project Adder’ is an intensive partnership programme introduced by the Home Office in January 2021 and set out to reduce the prevalence of drug use, drug-related offending, and drug-related deaths, through the disruption of organised criminality and networks involved in the market for drug and firearms supply.

Wakefield was identified as an accelerator site for Project Adder and received additional funding from the Home Office to tackle drug related issues within the local communities.

Since then, the NIT team have carried out a magnitude of work on top of the drug seizures including 108 arrests, 117 warrants, and 186 stop and searches.

Additionally, they seized 64 weapons and offered 92 drugs divert community resolution orders.

The divert community resolution orders require offenders to work directly with Liaison and Diversion at Wakefield Council and the charity Turning Point which promotes a well-rounded approach to rehabilitation through identifying contributing factors rather than just substance misuse.

Chief Inspector Chris Raby, of Wakefield District, said: “The Wakefield Neighbourhood Impact Team play a critical role in our approach to tackling drug-related issues across the district and I am extremely proud to see that one year on they have made such a positive and significant impact within our communities.

“We understand the deeply concerning impacts that drug production and supply can have, including the exploitation of children and vulnerable others and the associated feelings of being unsafe from residents.

“That is why I feel it is so important that we recognise the hard work that is being done by our NIT team to address these issues. The team has adopted a partnership approach with health and local authority partners to reach this significant milestone, and their work will not stop there.”