In the second of his three-part investigation into drugs - on the streets and in our prisons - Stuart Arnold meets a police officer battling to control the flow of narcotics threatening to flood the North-East

POLICE are battling to contain a rising tide of drug-related crime on the streets. More than a third of all thefts and burglaries are linked to drug-taking, as addicts are compelled to steal hundreds of pounds worth of property every day to feed their habit.

Detective Chief Inspector Denny Pygall, head of organised crime for Durham Police, said the force had experienced a rise in drug-related crime in recent years.

It is a problem being experienced throughout the UK and is particularly related to the abuse of heroin, which can be injected, smoked or "tooted", which is street talk for sniffed.

As a result, Durham Police are making a determined effort to target prolific offenders, who will steal property worth between £200 and £500 per day to buy drugs.

He said: "A lot of offenders are committing crime for the sole reason of purchasing drugs.

"The typical addict on the street will buy a £10 bag, containing a tenth of a gram of heroin. They will typically get through two bags a day, but they could use as many as five.

"Two bags would cost about £20 and they would need to steal property worth about £200 to raise that amount."

Det Chief Insp Pygall, who has 28 years' experience as a police officer, said many addicts worked on a goods for drugs "bartering" system, where no cash actually changed hands.

Shoplifters would typically target goods such as expensive deodorants, razor blades or even jars of coffee to trade for drugs.

Where more expensive items were stolen, such as electrical goods, in order to secure a deal the thief's sell-on price would often be a fraction of the item's value - which meant more items had to be stolen.

Durham Police highlight anecdotal evidence, which shows that more and more criminals require drug treatment while in police custody. Between April 2000 and April last year, the number of visits by police medical staff to prisoners in custody requiring drug treatment increased by 46 per cent.

There were 685 such calls between April 2000 and April 2001, compared to 1,006 between April 2001 and last April.

Police stress that while the majority of these calls were related to drug addictions, many were also for medical conditions, such as diabetes.

A recent study published in Police Review showed that 70 per cent of prisoners in Nottingham's Bridewell station tested positive for heroin, crack or cocaine.

Brian Caton, general secretary of the Prison Officers' Association, said: "The vast majority of young people coming into prisons in the North of England have a substance problem.

"It is something of an iceberg, where only the tip is visible. A high proportion of people are committing offences to fund their drug habit. They have not got an income, so they find the money by robbing."

For many, treatment for their addiction only comes after arrest and sentencing and even then the link can be hard to break