Tackling Drug and Sex Litter. Bristol City Council

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1 Tackling Drug and Sex Litter Bristol City Council There are approximately 4,000 4,500 problematic drug users in Bristol, resulting in an estimated 150m worth of social and economic costs. In addition, there are 25,000 recreational users in Bristol and a further12,500 problematic drug users supplied by Bristol s extended market. Both Bristol City Council and the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (Safer Bristol) acknowledged that drugs-related litter (DRL) was an increasing problem which has a serious impact on communities. Both organisations are focused on outcomes that make a difference and were keen to be involved in ENCAMS National Drug Liter Conference, which was held in Bristol in February In addition DRL was agreed as the topic of one of the community delivery subgroups which sit under the Safer Bristol Executive. Following the national conference, Bristol City Council agreed to take part in one of the two pilot projects run by ENCAMS in the South West (Torbay is the other pilot area). The initial step of this project was to set up a steering group of all relevant bodies. A meeting was organised and membership agreed as representatives from ENCAMS, Bristol City Council Waste Collection & Streetscene, Community Safety & Drug Strategy Team (Safer Bristol Partnership), Avon & Somerset Police Drug Strategy, Government Office South West and Bristol Drug Project. As an immediate response to the problem Bristol City Council agreed to fund a drug and sex litter (D&SL) hotline and dedicated clean up team to deal rapidly with D&SL.

2 The key aims of the Rapid Clean Up Team were as folows: To create a high profile response service; To make the city a cleaner and safer place for all residents and visitors; To complement the work carried out by Safer Bristol Partnership. The Leader of Council and the Chief Executive supports the initiative. In May 2004, the council launched the dedicated drug and sex litter hotline and response team. The hotline has a direct connection to the customer service centre (CSC), and the rapid response team, which responds to these cals, consists of a two-person team Monday to Friday 8.00am 8.30pm. The staff members were specifically selected for their ability to relate to the public, to handle the promotion of the service and respond to the media attention. A risk assessment was carried out and additional training given for health and safety issues. The response team staff are also currently receiving training via Bristol Drugs Project regarding drug characteristics, culture, services, etc. in order for them to have a greater understanding of drug users and the services available to them. To carry out their work, the team is equipped with the following: van; water tank; yellow jackets; sharps boxes; litter pickers; gloves; clinical waste bags and jet washers. Training was conducted with the customer service centre staff before the launch of the team to ensure that: Local information was accurate; The hotline was given priority and answered swiftly; The message was passed on immediately to the team this was crucial to ensure that the team answered within the three-hour time limit. For the initiative to receive as much attention as possible, an eye-catching logo with a strong brand image was designed. The use of the word sex within the logo was debated at some length, as it is an emotive word for a local authority to use, however it certainly grabs the attention of everyone who sees it. This logo was printed onto the team s van, and business cards were handed out by the crew to the public and left in council buildings throughout the city advertising the service and

3 giving customers the number to phone. Posters were put up in council sites and supermarkets giving further information on what the service could be used for. Supplies of posters and business cards were also passed to the police, Safer Bristol Partnership and wardens. The service was launched on 25 May 2004 and received good local press attention. It was featured on local television news programmes, local radio stations and in the Bristol Evening Post. When someone phones the hotline: They are asked for details about the location and type of material found; The call is logged in the Environmental Waste Services management system; The details are then passed immediately to the crew by mobile phone; All calls are dealt with as quickly as possible. The hotline is manned from 8.30am to 8.00pm and during the night it is possible to leave an answerphone message which will be passed to the team first thing the following morning. The answerphone message also explains that for any urgent calls during the weekend the Emergency Control Centre can be contacted. The immediate goals of the Drug and Sex Litter team are: To remove drugs and sex litter; To respond to requests within three hours; To check for drugs and sex litter within known hotspots. The ultimate goal is to reduce the amount of D&SL by 50% over the next three years. The public reports nearly half of all incidences and, council departments, street wardens, housing departments and the police account for approximately a quarter. The team also proactively clears known problem sites, visits local shopping areas to talk to members of the public and attends meetings in order to promote the service. The DRL pilot steering group meets regularly to discuss approaches to reducing drugs-related litter. They aim to tackle all aspects of the problem including reporting and clearing DRL, providing

4 information to the public and encouraging them to report DRL, working with drug users and ensuring all partners work together. Part of this work has been to agree that all D&SL information and data supplied by members of the public, street wardens, the police and other departments is processed by the council and shared across council departments, Safer Bristol Partnership, Bristol Drugs Project and the police. The format has been agreed, and on a monthly basis the data relating to all D&SL finds is exported from the service management software (seamlessly integrated with the CSC system) and imported into a GIS package. This allows the production of maps demonstrating the hotspot areas most affected by the problem. The pilot project has also sought to analyse views of communities and drug users in relation to drugs-related litter, in order to engage them more appropriately. In September 2004, ENCAMS, on behalf of the Bristol and Torbay pilot projects, secured funding from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to carry out market research in DRL hotspots. The aim of the research was to gain understanding of hotspot communities atitudes to DRL and determine messages that would encourage them to take action when faced with such litter. The data on D&SL finds was used to identify three recurring hotspots areas in Bristol and an independent market research agency was commissioned to cary out friendship pair interviews with members of the communities in these areas. The specific objectives of the research were: To ascertain opinions and perceptions of drug users and dealers; To explore awareness and understanding of DRL; To understand barriers and motivations to taking action when faced with DRL; To seek views on how DRL should be tackled. Please see for the full research report. This data will be used by both ENCAMS and Bristol City Council to better engage local communities in taking action regarding DRL. The research includes communications guidelines regarding the best ways of informing people about services relating to DRL and encouraging communities to report DRL. In addition to this the Bristol Drugs Project ( is carrying out focus groups with drug service users, concentrating on three structured questions:

5 1. What do you think is meant by the term drug-related litter? 2. Why do you think drug-related litter is a problem? 3. If you were asked to run a drug-related litter campaign, how would you do it? This information will be used by the steering group to assess how all the partners communicate with drug users and possible ways to engage them and encourage safe disposal of DRL. For example, safer disposing information may be included within the safer injecting workshops which are run for drug service users. Plans for the future: To continue to develop a more responsive service; To target hotspot areas for more sustainable solutions to the problem, such as education and community interaction/ownership; To continue to promote the service, encouraging people to report finds by visiting supermarkets, shopping centres, etc.; To continue to build and strengthen partnership working with other agencies; To produce measurable outcomes/performance management data to justify the mainstream funding of the service. The response team and hotline is run at a cost of 80,000 per year and has been funded initially for one year. For further information, please contact: Ms Chris Williams Bristol City Council T: E: christine_williams@bristol-city.gov.uk