Merthyr Tydfil Councils Community Safety Team is currently trialling an app which allows staff and partners to report where drug paraphernalia has been found.
The first of its kind in the UK, the app called Safer Communities Wales is being piloted by the Community Safety Partnership. It is a mapping database designed to show the location of where drug litter such as used and unused needles, nitrous oxide gas canisters, crack pipes, and heroin cookers among other items.
The pilot started in November last year and is running until August this year with 20 people currently involved in trialling it. The app provides a map of Merthyr Tydfil which shows live incidents of drug paraphernalia being found. The person submitting a find can put what type of paraphernalia it is and on what type of land it was found such as alleyways, at the bus station, on green space, private or public land – and allows users to create graphs. Recently the app is also being used to locate where rough sleepers are in the town because they’ve found there has been crossover between where they are and where drug paraphernalia has been found.
Ryan Evans from the Merthyr Tydfil Community Safety Partnership said “previously we’ve only been able to get anecdotal data about issues but now we can get intelligence which contributes to enforcement, support and education about drugs. We have already started using the information to target areas most affected and engage with people.
Posted on 22/03/2019