Referring young offenders to drug treatment services may become the model for protecting communities from drug-related crime, a report said today.
The report, Changing Track, assesses the pilot "arrest referral" scheme in Dublin's north inner-city.
Unveiling the report, Minister of State with responsibility for Drugs Strategy Noel Ahern said the scheme "can become a transferable model of best practice in early intervention".
Mr Ahern said the scheme is being increasingly utilised in the north inner-city and can be reviewed and enhanced.
Mel MacGiobuin, co-ordinator of the North Inner City Drugs Task Force (NICDTF) said: "In the north inner city the arrest referral process, though in its early stages, is facilitating the tracking of juveniles to services aimed at helping them address their drug use and related offending behaviour.
"Although initially there has been a low take-up of the scheme the research shows that this is comparable with findings in the set-up of this type of scheme in the UK.
Mr MacGiobuin said that the scheme had the potential to divert young people away from persistent criminal behaviour, but that more resources were needed from the Government to extend the project.
He said he believed that arrest referral schemes should remain independent from routine police procedures, while not interfering with criminal inquiries.
The pilot scheme in Dublin is similar to one that all police forces in England and Wales operate.
The scheme was monitored by the British Home Office which found that over a one-year period, between October 2000 and September, 2001 48,770 people were screened by arrest referral workers in England and Wales.
Of those, more than half (24,751) were voluntarily referred to community-based specialist drug treatment services and 5,520 took up and followed through with the programme.
The net economic and social benefits of treating these 5,520 people was estimated at €6.4 billion over an eight-year period.
In addition, the level of police arrest rates significantly declined six months after contact with an arrest-referral worker compared to six months before contact.
Additional reporting by PA
