A NEW crackdown on drugs across Oxford has been launched in a bid to clean up the streets and help users into recovery.

Thames Valley Police, Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council staff have been working together since mid-August as part of a new 'taskforce' to tackle the scourge of drug dealing and drug taking.

There have been increasing fears over drug use in public places, with St Mary and St John Church in Cowley Road being forced to padlock its gates to keep users out.

Oxford Mail:

And the taskforce comes in response to residents' concerns about the visibility of drug crime in public spaces, with the number of discarded needles found on the streets going up by more than 15 per cent in a year.

The taskforce will initially focus on three hotspots in South Park, Grandpont and Meadow Lane.

Oxford Mail:

Superintendent Joe Kidman said: “We have seen an increase [in drugs] and we know that from speaking to members of the public. We have seen an increase in public spaces being used for public drug dealing and drug use.”

He added: “The more freely available drugs are the more difficult it is for someone addicted to get help.”

Members of the taskforce have already found six knives hidden in the undergrowth of South Park and a cache of weapons in Paradise Square next to the Westgate Centre.

Oxford Mail:

To make drug dealing more difficult in South Park, vegetation has been cut away and a bench has been moved to a more visible location.

Covert and high-visibility patrols of the park have been completed.

The Oxford Public Spaces Drugs Taskforce is composed of a police sergeant, two police officers, two PCSOs and a problem-solving police analyst.

They are supported by a problem-solving city council officer. The PCSOs have been funded by £70,000 provided by the city council.

Tom Hayes, who represents the city council on the Thames Valley Police and Crime Panel, said he had spoken to councillors and Oxford East MP Anneliese Dodds about what concerned residents most. They had all said residents’ most pressing concern was drug-related crime.

Mr Hayes said: “Because we’ve been responding to what we’re hearing from residents and councillors, we need to build confidence that if they see something, it’s going to get sorted.

“Listening and responding are two critical parts of the taskforce. The last thing we need is to have someone who is so concerned about something that they pick up the phone or send an email to feel that they’re not being listened to.”

He said 606 people have already reported to the taskforce.

Every person who reports something will receive updates, in what is thought to be a first for the Thames Valley.

Between mid-August and mid-October, the Oxford Public Spaces Drugs Taskforce made 13 arrests.

But, conversely, the number of discarded needles the city council picked up in public places increased from just over 4,100 in 2016 to 4,793 in 2017.

Mr Hayes added: “We’re seeing the nature and the volume of crime changing; we’re seeing the model of drug distribution changing: it’s becoming more organised.

“We’re seeing the innovation of drug slavery, where very young children and vulnerable adults are being exploited around the city.

“This taskforce is about being on the front foot, not being reactive to people who have got concerns.”

It has already worked closely with the county council’s social care team, the Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group and Oxfordshire’s drug recovery service, Turning Point.

Andy Symons, Turning Point’s senior operations manager, appealed to drug users to get help as soon as possible.

He said: “We have no waiting list. If you want treatment, it’s available today.”

The charity has a base in Oxford in Rectory Road and organises other outreach programmes. It has about 670 people in treatment for opioid addiction currently.

Over the last year, it supported 97 opiate users in Oxford to complete treatment and become drug free.

Although the taskforce is currently working at the three hotspots, that might change. They have been determined so far by using data NHS ambulance figures and reports to police.

Mathew, a current service user at Turning Point, said: “I’ve been using heroin for over six years and I have noticed it has been harder to score drugs in Oxford recently, and so for the first time I have decided to sort myself out.

“I have spent more time doing positive things like going to Turning Point, who have been great in supporting me, and I have not used heroin for the past four weeks. Things are looking up for me at long last.”

The Office for National Statistics found there were 25 deaths related to drugs between 2015 and 2017. That equates to 5.8 deaths for every 100,000 – more than double the Oxfordshire rate of 2.5.