A London council has become the first in the country to employee its own specialist drug squad after the capital recorded its highest number of poisoning deaths since records began last year.
Tower Hamlets Council’s seven officer team has seized a £50,000 haul of illegal substances from a vehicle in Blackwall Way car park, cleared a concealed encampment used for drug taking near a bus layby and given support offers to residents affected.
The three-month pilot has disrupted local supply chains and supported vulnerable residents, the town hall said.
Launching the squad, the borough’s mayor Lutfur Rahman said: "Following years of austerity and cuts to police budgets, this innovative and high impact approach represents a cost-effective way for councils to address these persistent issues which are affecting communities across the country and I hope other councils will follow our lead."
Both inner and outer London boroughs had spikes in the number of deaths linked to illicit substances last year.
In 2024 Tower Hamlets saw 22 deaths caused by drugs, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.
The local authority said early results from its pilot indicate that the focused approach has enabled officers to intervene more effectively with people involved in drug offences and antisocial behaviour.
The team has been working alongside the Met, CCTV and enforcement officers, the Specialist Substance Misuse Investigations Team (SSMIT) and other local services as part of what the council describes as a new community safety model targeting the borough’s most prolific offenders while providing routes to support.
Officers have carried out 2,260 hours of patrols and referred 69 people with substance misuse issues to SSMIT.
The new approach centres on individuals as well as locations, using a list of 50 high-impact offenders whose behaviour is monitored and addressed through escalating interventions.
The council says officers have used community intelligence to challenge key individuals linked to multiple drug taking hotspots, issued antisocial behaviour warnings and injunctions.
Casework has included identifying 11 suspected drug dealers, submitting evidence on Class A dealing to police, facilitating 10 arrests and helping secure three criminal behaviour orders.
Former Met Chief Superintendent and Community Safety Director Dal Babu said: "Tower Hamlets Council is the first to adopt this innovative approach and I'm sure other local authorities will follow.
“This is such an important initiative because we have to work differently to address these persistent problems. The police can't do it alone.
“They're focusing, as we'd expect, on the organised criminal networks when it comes to drug dealing. The drugs squad is a new trauma-informed approach to tackling antisocial behaviour issues."
Mr Rahman added: “I'm proud that we have become the first council in the country to create a specialist team dedicated to tackling organised drug crime and supporting people with a route out of addiction and antisocial behaviour.”
