Government ministers are being lobbied in a bid to ensure funding continues for the hugely-successful Bradford District Drugs Team.

The specialist team has amassed 2,400 arrests and seized drugs valued at £8.5 million since it was formed five years ago. But there are concerns the level of Home Office funding could be cut when it is due for renewal next March.

Chief Superintendent Allan Doherty, who heads the drugs initiative Crackdown in Bradford, is due to raise the issue tomorrow at a regional government event in Leeds. Half of the cost of running the drugs team comes from a central Government fund and the rest from West Yorkshire Police.

Chief Supt Doherty said: "At the moment we don't know if we will get the money to continue funding part of the drugs unit, which could mean having to find money from another source, or the unit may have to be down-sized. I am determined not to let that happen.

"I have lobbied Home Office ministers when they have visited Bradford and they agreed that this unit, and similar ones, are essential in the fight against crime.

"We have a fantastic working relationship with Bradford Council and we hope together we can find a way of keeping the unit running at the level it is.

"If we tried to deliver the same service with a smaller unit we simply couldn't do it. Other parts of the police service would have to deal with more drug dealing incidents. We want to avoid that. Other teams deal with other issues and we need the experts from the drugs unit dealing with what they are best at."

Chief Supt Doherty said the police, with other public organisations, were feeling the squeeze but he was very hopeful the Government would announce further funding at the end of March.

He said: "Each year the Government reviews funding and has usually continued with it. We are keeping our fingers crossed it is going to come again. I am going to raise the issue, make sure it is on the agenda and that people realise how important it is to keep the funding.

"The drugs team provides a fantastic level of service. It punches above its weight and, quite simply, is great value for money."

Chief Supt Doherty worked in the Bradford drugs squad 20 years ago and says the way the team now worked was very different. He said: "In my day it was simply about enforcement. All we did was arrest people. We have continued to arrest people but we now recognise drug addiction is an illness and make sure we work in partnership with the Drug Interventions Programme and the health service and Council to try to solve the problem at its root.

"Anyone arrested in Bradford for certain types of acquisitive crime is seen by a drugs worker. Police, housing officers, probation and social workers work together to try and get these people on the straight and narrow. If we can sort out the users, there wouldn't be anybody to supply to."

Anyone with information about drug dealing can Dob in a Dealer by ringing Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

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