Drug tests for theft suspects

Drugs are behind an estimated 33% of property crime

Police in Stafford are to begin mandatory drug testing of criminal suspects for heroin, crack, and cocaine.

The two-year Home Office pilot project is aimed at establishing the extent to which drug addiction fuels property crime.

From Monday, anyone over the age of 18 arrested on suspicion of theft, burglary, shoplifting or a serious drugs offence will be liable for the test.

It will be a criminal offence to refuse - with a penalty of up to three months in prison or a hefty fine.

It will also inform decisions on bail and sentencing, and the kind of treatment required by those arrested.

A similar voluntary study has indicated that 7,000 of those arrested every week had taken heroin in the previous two days, and 5,000 had taken crack cocaine.

'Draconian'

Other research has suggested that up to a third of all property-related crime is committed by drug misusers in order to gain money to fund their habit.

It has also been estimated that criminal activity by drug users halves after treatment, and that for every £1 spent on drug treatment, £3 is saved on crime.

Stafford is the first of three areas to take part in the pilot project - Nottingham and Hackney in east London are expected to follow soon.

But the move has been criticised by civil rights campaigners, who describe the plan as "draconian".

Civil rights group Liberty has previously warned that the plan could fall foul of the European Convention on Human Rights.

"The link between drugs and crime is problematic and needs to be broken but this is not the way to do it," said director John Wadham.

"Eroding rights won't crack crime and this approach misses the whole point, which is to stop people becoming problematic drug users in the first place."