Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Steve Turner has a high profile role as part of a regional task force to tackle illegal drugs.
Steve is Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) in Cleveland’s Combating Drugs Partnership.
That means he acts as the Government’s key local contact on its 10-year combatting drugs strategy.
Part of that job is to give the Government regular progress reports from the Cleveland Partnership.
In addition, Steve holds key partners to account, helps to resolve any ongoing issues and drive improvements across the system.
The Partnership is responsible for producing a shared local plan to deliver against the Government’s national objectives.
Members oversee the delivery and coordination of the Government’s From Harm to Hope drug strategy within the Cleveland Police area.
The strategy is a mix of help for individuals to recover and work to clamp down on the drugs’ supply chain and dealers. Its key objectives are to:
- Break drug supply chains
- Deliver a world class treatment and recovery system
- Achieve a shift in the demand for recreational drugs
While the PCC chairs meetings, the partnership’s membership is drawn from throughout the criminal justice and health sectors.
From Harm to Hope
The Government’s From Harm to Hope strategy sets ambitious national targets for cutting the supply and misuse of drugs across England and Wales.
It also sets targets for better support to help addicts recover. Objectives include:
- Closing down an additional 2,000 County Lines supply chains within three years;
- Disrupting 6,400 activities of organised criminal gangs (OCGs;)
- Seizing additional cash and property gained as a result of drug-related criminal activity;
- Preventing up to 1,000 deaths from drugs’ misuse;
- Providing 54,500 high quality treatment places;
- Preventing up to 250,000 crimes committed as a result of illegal drug dealing or taking;
- Reducing drug use to a 30-year low over the next decade.