Battle for Brown Town Week In Week Out

What's ruining thousands of lives in one Welsh city? You can see it

in the street. You can see it in the faces of people. I would call

them the living dead? About ten years ago the problem came like an

avalanche on top of us. We have had ongoing problems ever since. What

is fuelling the crime wave? We do it because our bodies are in so

much pain we've got no choice. the police spending �500,000 of

public money fighting it? It's a problem. Let's tack tl together. --

tackle it together. Put before the court, prison sentence, released,

Police. South Wales Police Force is waging a war on the streets of

Swansea, dozens of raids like this have been carried out to dismantle

the drugs trade from top to bot 2078. -- bottom. Heroin is top of

their hit-list and everything that goes with it. That there is a

sachet that a needle comes in. There are needle caps etc. I will

not put my hands in, there for obvious reasons. Straightaway, that

is the first sign of linking this property to heroin use. The city of

Swansea has been plighted by heroin for the last decade. It became an

area of rich pickings for organised crime gangs. The police chief

drawing up the battle lines know what is they are up against.

they see demand, then supply will come along. We don't have some of

the issues that they may have in other cities such as armed or

drive-by shootings. Some may think we are an easy option. We are not

an easy option. We will be here and deal with. It this will be our

focus for the foreseeable future. This is approximately 1100 street

deals when you think... Raids uncover links with drug gangs in

Liverpool, Bristol and London. of the drug dealers have stated

they run touchable. We will find you, we will get you and put you

behind bars. We'll get them all. It's not just the gangs being

targeted, police officers on the ground are after users as well.

They want heroin off the streets. We've had significant assaults here

as a result of drug battles and substance misuse battles in this

area here. I think it's winnable. We have all, all agencies have to

buy into the project. We have to work closely together. That is the

way we will turn it around. Amy is only 20. She has been a user for

seven years. When you're an addict, you go to bed. You wake up. You

open your eyes and you think, straightaway, "where am I going to

get money from" or, "where am I going to score from" much you get

up to get the money for the heroin. You buy the heroin. You do the

heroin. Then it starts all over again. Amy first took the drug when

she was 13. She was trapped by one of the many dealers. What the

dealers do see, they give you it and say, do you want a line. I was

13 and curious. As it was free, as soon as you are hooked you have to

pay for it. A lot of dealers will say, you can have a bag if you give

me a blow job or have sex with me. Is one of an estimated 3,000 heroin

users in Swansea. Nick is another one. He has been on heroin for

seven years. He has just relapsed after coming back to the city from

a treatment programme in Birmingham. Despite the treatment programme he

is back to his old ways. An easy Daily life is chaotic for Nick.

He's homeless and has been sleeping Nick's worldly possessions are a

couple of blankets stashed away behind a bin. He reclaims them at

night. Heroin ruins user's life, -- lives it brings with it other costs.

The area's hospitals are picking up the piece deal with the disease

that' appeared almost over night. About ten years ago the problem

came like an avalanche on top of us here in Swansea. We have had

ongoing problems ever since. It's draining vast resources out of our

Heath care. We don't need. This we have taken action on prevention of

accidents in children, road accidents. We have reduced things

like this. We have actioned drunk driving. These things have been

tackled. This new disease has hit us, with huge consequences. Heroin

isn't just hitting the hospitals and damaging lives, it's fuelling a

crime wave all of its own. Most people who do enter a drug crime

cycle when heroin is involved can commit vast amounts of crime.

Offenders are as the name suggestion, in Swansea, my last

count it's around about 80% or 90% of them are heroin users in one way

shape or form. It's sad. Some of these people are victims themselves.

That is one way of looking at. It the amount of misery and chaos they

cause by their addiction, that has a massive effect on society. It's

the need for the drug which causes most of the crime in Swansea.

Feeding a habit can cost you up to �100 a day. Stealing becomes

Amy's no strange tore crime either. Been to prison now for four times

because of it. My nana brought me up my whole life. She is the best

nana. I robbed her because I needed drugs so bad. I shoplifted. I sold

my body to old men. From the age of 14 I was working in parlours when I

was 15. You wake up and you think, God, a tenner, no I haven't. Let's

go shoplifting and do a punter. Let's buy gear. It's a circle.

Swansea the fight is on to disrupt life for people like Nick and Amy,

who spend most of their time in the city centre. It's been used a tool

called section 27. It bans anyone who has anti-social behaviour.

level anti-social behaviour. Coming into the city centre, rowdyness,

they are abusing law abiding members of the public, traders

retailers. Having a significant impact on those. Reare discouraging

people visiting the city centre. We try to deter that individual away.

It takes hard work. A lot of police resources. There is a need for. It

we need bring the resources here to bring back the feel good factor

back into the city centre. To make people feel safe visiting here.

Across the city, officers have spotted two people who have been

warned to get out of town. Lower your voice. Lower your voice.

Listen to me a minute. Listen to me speaking. Stop shouting at me. You

had Section 27. We would prerbt you go -- appreciate you going home.

Don't shout at me in the street, all right? They are moved on.

Shortly afterwards there is another call. Another member of the public.

They are asked to leave again. When this final warning is ignored, they

are arrested. Latest figures show there have been 20 Section 27's

handed out in the last few months. If they stayed in town we would

have had anti-social behaviour, which you witnessed some of. They

were arrested to prevent any further repercussions. Another day,

another search. Office verse stopped a known heroin user. We are

asking for the individual's movements. He passed over his bag

to be checked. No items in it. We had previous information,

intelligence, hence why the individual needs to be spoken to.

One of our offenders in and out of prison. Caught, arrested, charged,

put before the court. Convicted, prison sentence, released. Cycle

starts again. It's a cycle of crime that police m Swansea are

determined to break. Are the Section 27 orders moving the

problem around? It buys us some time. The police will still

continue to do. That we will continue to buy some time, but we

need all of the agencies involved to come together, identify, accept

the problem and tack tl together. The latest anti-heroin clampdown is

costing �500,000. Money well spent, according to the man leading it.

know from national figures that each addict could cost society, up

to �850,000. When you work through all of the treatment, all the

criminal justice issues that arise, you can see a significant number of

costs involved. Some people may think, if you take heroin, you die,

so what, that is your own fault. I have a different view. It's a

tragedy that a human life has been lost. Swansea was averaging 16

deaths a year from heroin over doses, each one a personal tragedy.

For those who survive, it takes its toll. Heroin doesn't come off a

product like line like a pharmaceutical company. It's mixed

with addicts, rubbish, dirty water, cement is used. If you inject it

into your veins you will get an abscess. They come in with infected

limbs. They will inject anything to get that fix. All this dirty

material and water is get injected in there. Not surprising they get

infections. Four people in the last two months have died through heroin.

Four of my friends. Everyone's dying. Stick a needle in your arm

and you know you could die. It's not worth it. After seven years of

abuse, Amy has been warned to stop taking heroin or risk becoming

another drug death statistic. got a vein in my body. I had some

someone with a dirty needle going in my groin. I let him do it all

because, not because I wanted to, I needed that so much because I was

in so much pain. My stomach, my back, I couldn't walk. I was being

sick. The pain is - people judge you, it's wrong. The focus is on

the police's battle to catch dealers. Drug support agencies will

have to deliver as well. Eddie Isles works for one organisation

set up to help keep addicts healthy and get them on to treatment

programmes. I think probably one of the ways of describing this

particular piece of enforcement would be to think of almost as

tough love. I think there are anxieties about this. It has to be

the right thing to do though. Sometimes, in doing the right thing,

you have to take the risk that it may expose unintended consequences

or it may create other demand problems. But I think, this is a

problem which has been buried out of sight for too long really and

the amount of drug deaths we have had in Swansea over the last few

years was a major cause of concern. Nick is alive but still sleeping

rough. Keeping warm is not his only The easy viability of the drug on

the streets and those all too willing to push it have been too

Elsewhere, there's about to be an early wake-up call. Courtesy of the

drugs squad. And again. Police. Is anyone here? A warrant to search

the premises under the Misuse of Drugs Act. The occupants have some

explaining to do. Police find cannabis plants and cultivation

equipment. We acted on information and intelligence. As a result of

executing that warrant, two persons were found at the property and have

been arrested on the other hand suspicion of production of a

controlled drug. Would you like to give me one of your names? Your

surname? I don't have a surname, sir. OK. Amongst the cannabis and

chaos they are searching for evidence of heroin and other drugs.

Every room is checked, even the atti c. Those handcuffs are there

for your safety and mine. There are bladed articles around you at the

moment. Until I can establish these premises, this is why you have been

handcuffed. They haven't found heroin in this search they

dismannedleed a cannabis crop. is an ongoing initiative and one of

many we will be doing over the coming months. Police are

continuing to investigate this discovery. In terms of enforcement,

we'll do all we can to make sure that we stamp it out and send a

strong message to the communities that it won't be tolerated.

heroin in this raid, but elsewhere the search goes on. Across town

there is a call to the control room. That leads to a very successful

bust. �5,000 worth of heroin there. On the street would be cut up and

be about �10,000 worth, 1100 deals a cracking result. In the last

couple of days we seized a large quantity of heroin which would have

been 1100 street deals. When you look at the human misery that would

cause, I know that that is a success. That is the value of what

we are doing is trying to turn people's lives around. As a result

of the tip-off, two suspected dealers were charged with pocession

with intent to supply and are awaiting trial. I take it as a

personal mission. I'm from Swansea. I care about the area. I want to

make sure that people can bring their families up in a drug-free

society. Drying up the city's heroin supplies can have its own

consequences on the streets as Amy knows only too well. When they did

this major operation last year and they had all those deals. If you

walked up the high street everyone was in bits. You couldn't, you

couldn't get it nowhere. Now, it's back as it always has been, you can

get it anywhere. But it was bad. It was really bad. Police are also

aware of those consequences. Either the cost of heroin actually

encreased and crime could increase. We have an occasions where it's got

so short on the streets we had deaths where people have looked at

other forms of drugs and taken those in different quantities and

as a result they died. Sometimes success provides us with what we

require for stats. If not managed properly, if we don't look at the

demand properly, lack of supply can cause another problem. These police

operations result in many addict being referred to rehab programmes.

Christine Skelton is the manager of this centre for the homeless and

deals with many of the city's substance abusers every day.

need to be opportunistic. When somebody's ready to sort out the

problem and want help and assistance, it needs to be

available. What happens is, by the time a place comes up, they've

dropped out of the system. It's because of the waiting lists.

her 12 years at this Swansea charity, she has seen the number of

substance abusers double. however 650 methadone places in

Swansea and Neath. Seven beds. In Port Talbot. And maybe 6,000 people

needing the service. One in 10 it won't receive a detox or methadone

service. At Police HQ, the campaign DC Alan Murphy is counting money

from a new raid. Checking for any drug residue. Everything is filmed

for evidence. It could lead to more convictions in the battle to make

Swansea a very uncomfortable place Nick has spent another night on the

streets. His life is still blighted by his struggle with his addiction.

It was cold this morning. Freezing. He's had some heroin. But not

Many of the city's addicts want to kick the habit. Amy is one. She's

on her fifth attempt at rehab. not had heroin today. I feel great

and I am proud of myself and I'm going to keep trying. I went to

rehab. I lasted 12 days. I been on methadone a few times. I tried

doing it myself but it's impossible. You got to have the help or you

can't do it. But a day later she's banned from the city centre on a

Section 27. Not her first. The police's campaign will mean there

will be more heroin addicts like Amy and Nick wanting treatment. But

if addicts they refer for help are kept waiting, the clampdown could

all unravel. They are waiting between 10 and 12 months. That for

concern I have. Why are they waiting so long? They could offend

on a daily basis. I think we are away from it. If you speak to the

practitioners, then to ensure we have the right level of treatment,

support for drug users, I don't think the resources are present at

the moment. Those on the front line support the police campaign.

workout the speed at people need to access services. If we lose it at

that point, we lose the whole thread all the way through. Part of

the change we may have to think about is how to manage those people

who are in long-term treatment? They may get less frequent

persistent than they currently get. If they are stable, that's great.

The problem is, if they relapse, we are back to the start again.

Welsh Government have set is access to treatment with set times. The

Welsh Government says it is working closely with others in Swansea to

tackle waiting lists. There's some additional funding for GPs. But

overall, agencies will have to achieve more value for money out of

existing funds. Nick's date in court has arrived. He'll plead

guilty to shoplifting and is hoping for a fresh start away from heroin.

I had six months discharge. Stay For Nick, getting out of Swansea

and back onto a treatment programme in Brimingham seems his best hope

of beating his addiction. Amy's back on the streets after her

Section 27 ban and says she's still clean. Here, there and everywhere.

But I'm on my script now. They're putting me in a detox centre for

alcohol so I'll be sorted. When is that happening? A few weeks,

eventually I will be sorted. minutes later, she's arrested. Her

The police's campaign continues to bring success. Drug rehab agencies

are giving their full support. But between them will they break

Swansea's reputation as the heroin capital of Wales? The resources we

have got in Swansea are excellent. There are some brilliant agencies.

We just haven't got enough. And, unless we receive more funding, it

could get significantly worse. personally think it is winnable.

But all need to be working together. I hope everybody has the

willingness to turn this around. We've been here before. Heroin in

Swansea. It's not new. We have an opportunity to refocus. We have

come on at secure the country from years ago. That opportunity of a

more integrated approach will go. Amy could be facing prison after

pleading guilty to her part in a burglary. She's being sentenced

this week. But one thing she does know. Heroin has ruined her life.

To any young people out there that are curious, like I was, when I was

really young, don't touch it because the first time you take it,

you will not stop. Once it gets holds the view, -- hold of you, you

don't control the drugs. It controls you. At the end of the day,

all you get from taking heroin is being found dead in the gutter.

Nick, there could be light at the end of the tunnel. I've just had