Drug dealers can expect to be facing justice soon in Dumfries and Galloway, a police chief has warned.
Chief superintendent Carol McGuire revealed that a series of drug testing results following arrests have recently come back positive from the police laboratory.
It means more police incidents can be marked off as detected in the region – and more cases can progress through the courts.
Chief superintendent McGuire produced a report at the council’s police, fire and rescue services sub-committee last week, which detailed various crime stats for the first half of this year.
She said: “You’ll notice that with the drugs supply cases the detection rate appears to be particularly low at 67.5 percent, but I’m anticipating a considerable increase in this as we receive the results from the laboratory, which will then allow us to move those to detected cases.
“Recent figures indicate that we’re actually sitting at a detection rate of over 80 percent.
Police Scotland have released figures for the first half of the year – April 1- September 30 – which demonstrate a significant increase in several crime categories in Dumfries and Galloway.
While just one attempted murder was recorded in the first half of the year for the last five years, there have been six attempted murders and a murder within six months this year.
Two crimes were domestic incidents which occurred within home addresses.
In all cases, the victims and perpetrators were known to each other and detected.
Meanwhile, 107 sexual assaults were recorded between April and September – compared to a five-year average of 86.4.
The detection rates for sexual/indecent assault stand at just 55 percent for the first half of the year, however Chief superintendent McGuire is hopeful these rates will also improve.
She said: “There’s been an increase in the number of sexual offences, particularly indecent and sexual assaults.
“Over one third of those are non-recent. Hopefully that’s an indication of the public confidence around reporting these crimes remaining high, albeit clearly any report of such crimes is concerning to us and we’ll continue to take that victim-centred approach, managing that risk and conducting a thorough and professional investigation.
