Belfast Drugs Campaign Renewed

A campaign to tackle drugs and drug dealing across Belfast is to be renewed by the PSNI and the Belfast Policing and Community Safety Partnership after it was credited with helping to increase the reporting of drug-related crime in its first month.

The 'Drug Dealers Don’t Care, Do You?' campaign was first launched last year and will debut on television tonight in new adverts that will be aired after 21:00.

Chairman of the Belfast PCSP, Cllr Colin Keenan, said: "The ultimate aim of this campaign is to get drugs off our streets, and to give people the confidence to report drug dealing in their community.

"When the campaign ran last year there was a 150% increase in the reporting of drug-related activity in the first month. The police and other agencies are doing their utmost to tackle the scourge of drugs, but local knowledge is vital and we hope the presence of this campaign on TV, radio and billboards across the city will help generate more leads."

PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton added: "This campaign is a key element in our work to tackle street level drug dealing. Drugs are an issue across all communities and whilst we as police work hard to tackle drug dealing, both at the street level and at an organised crime level, we continue to need the support of local communities in doing this.

"The information passed to police through this campaign is essential in identifying and bringing to justice those who are causing harm and making a profit of our communities by drug dealing."

(IT/CD)