Drug manufacturers and dealers, not drug users, are the target of a new campaign to shatter the ice supply chain, the ACT's top police officer says.
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ACT Policing and Crime Stoppers are recruiting members of the public to help bring drug dealers and manufacturers to justice, in the latest frontier in the war against the drug ice.
The Dob in a Dealer campaign will allow people to anonymously provide information on people involved in making and selling illicit drugs in Canberra.
ACT Policing Chief Police Officer Rudi Lammers said their focus is on supporting rather than prosecuting drug users.
"Although it's still an offence to use drugs, we're more concerned in making sure those people become well again and are treated and there are systems in place in Canberra to deal with that," he said.
"What we're more interested in is finding the source of the drugs through the users, the sources include the manufacturers and distributors in Canberra, our focus through this campaign and other campaigns is not to target the users of drugs."
He said while the quantity isn't as large in Canberra, the problems caused by the drug are.
"We don't have a big ice problem in Canberra but we do have a problem that results from the use of ice in Canberra. Violence, family violence, the mixture of alcohol with ice is a problem in Canberra but no different to other states and territories," Chief Police Officer Lammers said.
The pilot program in Victoria reported a 155 per cent spike in community information reports about ice.
ACT Region Crime Stoppers chairman Bryan Roach said the reason these campaigns have been so successful in other jurisdictions is the anonymity they guarantee.
"When people call Crime Stoppers we're not recording phone numbers, we are only interested in the information they have," Mr Roach said.
"Similarly when they go online and submit an online report, at the end of the line all we are receiving is an anonymous email. We're not asking people to identify themselves."
ACT Police and Emergency Services Minister Simon Corbell said the Dob in a Dealer campaign was just one way of combating drug addiction in Canberra.
"Responding to the problem of illicit drug use in our community has to be multifaceted, it's about addiction, it's about preventing supply and that's what this campaign is about," he said.
He said while the ACT Government provides funding to Crime Stoppers through ACT Policing's crime prevention division, it has also stepped up funding for drug treatment and rehabilitation.
"We have recently announced over a quarter of a million dollars of additional funding to community-based organisations to assist them with the volume of presentations they're seeing around methamphetamine addiction and we'll continue to do that," Mr Corbell said.
Dob in a Dealer by contacting Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000, or via act.crimestoppers.com.au.
