War against drugs in school to be waged

By Humphrey Carter POLICE forces across the country will next week be launching a new war against the dealing of drugs in and around school and here in the Balearics, despite the rising crime rate and burden on stretched police forces, the authorities claim that there are sufficient human resources to mount the schools operation. Police forces have been ordered to target schools in a new two-year operation in response to a marked increase in drug usage amongst teenagers, especially those aged 14 and 15 , and a drop in the average age at which young people start using drugs. National and Local police forces are going to be involved in the first phase as well as the Guardia Civil and apart from targeting schools, police will also be monitoring the activities of teenagers during break times and after school. The central government delegate to the Balearics, Ramon Socias, has explained that all the police involved in the operation will be plain-clothed and working under cover in order to neither caused unnecessary alarm nor alert the drug dealers to their activities. Socias said yesterday that then operation is going to be “vert discrete” however will not reveal how many police are going to be needed to operate patrols at all the schools in the Balearics. He will however be having a meeting with the Home Secretary early next week to finalise the plan and the exact number of police to be placed on school drug patrols. “We need to eradicate the small-time dealer who is operating in a sector which is easily influenced,” said Socias. “The police operation is going to be effective in arresting as many dealers as possible while the judiciary is going to make sure that they serve the sentences they deserve.”