Coventry Community Safety Partnership

The Drug Intervention Programme (DIP) plays a large part in reducing drug-related crime. It brings together a range of professionals in the criminal justice system who work with drug-using offenders and offer them rapid access to the treatment and support they need.

Offenders suspected of using drugs undergo saliva tests in custody suites and those assessed as needing treatment are referred to local treatment services. Other people are referred by courts and prisons.

Agencies involved in the DIP are:

• West Midlands Police
• Probation
• Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust
• Her Majesty's Prison Service
• Coventry City Council

Offenders are unlikely to come into contact with the programme just once, and their support needs will not end when they finish their sentence or treatment. DIP interventions follow offenders as they pass through the criminal justice system, covering the following areas:  

 

• police custody
• the courts and probation
• prison
• treatment
• throughcare and aftercare

The interventions

• enhanced arrest referral of drug-using offenders into treatment
• drug testing for cocaine and opiates for offenders charged with 'trigger' offences

'Trigger' offences

• restrictions on bail for those who test positive for a specified Class A drug on charge. This encourages defendants to enter treatment.
• community sentences with treatment conditions (such as Drug Rehabilitation Requirements) attached.

Contact

Substance Misuse Commissioner
Community Safety Team
Coventry City Council
Room 214 Broadgate House
Broadgate
Coventry CV1 1FS

Tel: 024 7683 2094
Fax: 024 7683 2978
Email: barry.eveleigh@coventry.gov.uk