Shock as anti-drugs phoneline is axed
People working in the drugs area have been taken aback by the shock news and said the Dial to Stop Drug Dealing service had been “very successful.”
The Government said they were moving the service to another confidential phoneline, Crimestoppers, for “cost-efficient” reasons.
Anyone ringing the Dial to Stop Drug Dealing (DSDD) phoneline is simply told it is no longer in service. Calls are not transferred to Crimestoppers, nor is there a message telling callers of its existence.
Drug activists say the yearly budget of €25,000 given to Crimestoppers for the service will not pay for the level of national and local publicity needed to inform people of the change and explain to them is was a safe and anonymous service to use.
The DSDD was operated by a British phoneline service and open 24 hours a day. Organisers here said this was done because many people did not want to be talking to gardaí directly.
Crimestoppers is a 12-hour service and all calls are answered by gardaí based in the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
“In all the evaluations that were done, people were asked would they ring a police number and the answer was ‘No’,” said Phillip Keegan of Greater Blanchardstown Response to Drugs, which set up a local DSDD in May 2006. This was backed by the Government in setting up a national service in September 2008.
“People did say they would ring Dial to Stop Drug Dealing, which was based outside the state and totally anonymous,” said Mr Keegan. “I would imagine Crimestoppers could be seen as too close to the police.”
He said there were 24 local and regional drug task force areas: “That leaves €1,000 for each area to promote the new service.”
Kate Gibney, co-ordinator of Cork Local Drugs Task Force, said: “It definitely is a loss. People were very clear, if there was an issue in their area, this was the place to go. It seems that the line was previously seen to be working very well.”
Figures for DSDD show 9,000 calls have been made to the line, leading to over 2,500 reports to gardaí.
Sinn Féin justice spokes-man Jonathan O’Brien questioned the rationale behind the decision. “The department says 50 calls a month is low. That translates to 600 calls a year on drug activity. That does not seem low to me.”
* Crimestoppers: 1800 25 00 25
A spokesman for the Department of Health explained the closure.
“Following a review of the Dial to Stop Drug Dealing Campaign, it has been decided to put in place a more cost-efficient approach to promoting the campaign in partnership with Crimestoppers from 2012 onwards.”
