How terrorism, organised crime, and the internet are taking their toll on our police

TERRORISM

DERBY'S links to terrorism first hit the headlines when the story of failed suicide bomber Omar Sharif emerged.

Sharif, who was born in the city, travelled to a busy Tel Aviv bar on April 30, 2003, to kill himself and other customers by detonating a bomb inside his rucksack.

But Sharif's plan was thwarted when his bomb failed to detonate. The 27-year-old, from Northumberland Street, Normanton, fled the scene and his body was found in the sea two weeks later.

Derbyshire police has listed terrorism as one of the growing risks facing the force and needs £943,000 to fund additional resources so it can address the problem.

Assistant Chief Constable Peter Goodman said: "As seen by events such as the UK's first suicide bomber, Omar Khan Sharif, from Derby, we face challenges from terrorist activity much higher than the profile of our county suggests.

"We have to be constantly vigilant of the threat presented by extremism and terrorist-related activity in Derby and Derbyshire and we need to enhance our capability as a force to tackle these issues.

"Everyone who lives or works in Derbyshire has a significant role to play in making it difficult for terrorists to operate in our communities.

"I would like to stress we are not being alarmist. It is a reality for all UK police forces today and we cannot be complacent.

"Terrorism is indiscriminate and affects all communities."

The latest incident linking terrorism to the county is the case of Krenar Lusha.

The 29-year-old, who was arrested at his home in Moore Street, Derby, in August, is charged with possessing bomb-making recipes and four kilos of potassium nitrate – a vital component in gunpowder.

He also faces four charges of possessing instructions on how to make bombs.

There have been 4,760 reports of suspected terrorism in Derbyshire already this year, 584 of which were considered serious enough to be assigned to the force's counter terrorism team for a detailed investigation.

This compares to just 664 suspected reports in 2002, none of which were assigned to the team.

DRUGS

WITH 29 organised crime gangs linked to the supply of drugs in the county, the force has revealed it needs £764,000 to help police the issue.

Every year, about 1,460 kilos of heroin is brought into Derbyshire, along with 780 kilos of cocaine and 17,278 kilos of cannabis.

The average heroin addict in Derbyshire spends £12,000 a year on their habit and there are about 8,000 users in the county.

But Steve Holme, manager of Derbyshire Drug Market Project, said there had also been an increase in the trade of "legal highs" – drugs that can produce effects similar to that of ecstasy but that are not deemed to be illegal.

He said: "You tend to see trends when it comes to the use of drugs and at the moment there is a shift away from heroin, which at the moment is seen as a dirty drug, towards stimulants such as cocaine, which is glamorised by celebrities.

"In Derbyshire at the moment there is also a growing trend of legal highs.

"These are substances that are based on things like ecstasy but have had their chemical make-up altered so they fall outside the law."

Mr Holme said the police monitor the use of "legal highs" as part of analysing drug trends in the county.

Shocking statistics given to the Evening Telegraph by Derbyshire police also show that there are between 9,300 and 16,000 ecstasy users in the county, between 7,000 and 7,500 amphetamine users, up to 14,028 cocaine users and between 45,000 and 50,000 cannabis users.

Mr Holme said that the cultivation of cannabis in Derbyshire dates back to 1994.

He added: "Cannabis that is being cultivated in the county is not only being sold in Derbyshire but also taken out of the county and being distributed.

"Organised crime groups linked to drugs will have a network of distribution but it is unlikely that the person bringing it into the county would be the person that supplies it on the street."

ORGANISED CRIME

SHOCKING statistics released by the police have revealed just how many organised crime gangs there are in the county at the moment.

The fact that there are 45 gangs in Derbyshire and a further 26 affecting the county from other areas goes some way to explaining why the force says it needs £430,000 to address the problem.

From burglary and fraud to robbery and kidnap, organised crime gangs are responsible for a range of criminal activities.

Detective Sergeant Pete Lewis, from the serious and organised crime unit, said the 45 organised crime gangs within the county have about 356 members.

There are also 29 street gangs, with about 300 members, adding extra pressure to the force.

He said: "An organised crime gang is a group of people who commit crime generally for their own gain.

"You will find that the majority of those groups will be part of the production or supply of drugs.

"The way gangs operate have become more sophisticated over the years and for the force to tackle them it is necessary to use more sophisticated technology and resource to tackle the problem.

"All the time we are working to identify the organised crime groups operating within the county and those that are impacting on Derbyshire.

"It is a growing area of risk and we recognise that organised crime gangs are what often drive lower levels criminality."

Earlier this year, police set up Operation Redshank – a special unit to tackle gun crime and prevent gang activity in Derby –– in response to a number of shootings.

Det Sgt Lewis used the operation as an example of just one way the force has been tackling organised crime groups.

He added: "Two years ago, Operation Redshank was not in existence. It was set up to tackle specific issues that were being presented by organised crime gangs."

PUBLIC PROTECTION

FORMER golf captain Christopher Chamings was jailed for creating indecent pictures of the children he coached.

He alone has cost Derbyshire police about £50,000, with more than 1,000 hours being spent on monitoring him and investigating his case.

In September, Chamings was found guilty of creating indecent pictures for the second time.

The 66-year-old had taken pictures of boys he saw at the Bakewell Show, then superimposed their faces on indecent images he found on the internet.

Police discovered the offences just two years after Chamings had been jailed for previous crimes committed while he was captain of Derby Golf Club, in Sinfin.

For the latest offences, Chamings, of Norfolk Gardens, off Duffield Road, Derby, was sentenced to four years and three months in prison and handed an indefinite sexual offences prevention order.

During the most recent investigation officers found he had amassed nearly 5,000 images after seizing his computer and compact discs from his home.

Chamings is just one example of the strain being put on police time as each compact disc and computer hard drive seized in such cases needs to be meticulously examined by the force.

Detective Inspector Sean Dawson, from the force's public protection unit, deals with the hi-tech crime unit, dangerous persons management unit and with monitoring sexual offenders.

He said improvements in computer technology meant an increase in workload for his staff.

"Computers can now hold more information than ever and that has made our job harder as it takes us a lot longer to examine hard drives in cases such as Chamings'.

"Every CD, DVD, disc drive and hard drive has to be examined as it could feature a victim and evidence that can be used by the prosecution.

"The amount of work for the hi-tech crime unit has gone through the roof and there is a year-on-year increase of about 30%."

Det Insp Dawson said that in the first eight months of this year the hi-tech crime unit had dealt with 546 cases.

The force is also juggling a growing number of domestic violence and child and adult protection cases without an increase in the number of officers to deal with them.

Since 2005, there has been a 31% increase in domestic violence incidents and a 360% rise in the number of high risk offenders.

Add to this a 21% increase in child protection referrals and a 333% increase in adult protection referrals and it goes some way to explaining why the force says it needs £454,000 to increase its capacity to address rape cases and other serious sexual offences.