Drug dealing taking place in multiple hospitals, says policing board chief

Drug dealing appears to be taking place at multiple hospitals in Northern Ireland, the chair of the Northern Ireland Policing Board has said.

Mukesh Sharma said drug dealing started off in the emergency department of a single hospital and now “seems to be snowballing into being in multiple hospitals and right across different parts of the hospitals in the midst of some of the most vulnerable people in our society”.

Responding during a public meeting of the board, Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said drug misuse continues to be a priority for police.

He said they have seen a dispersal of people from Belfast city centre to the hospital in terms of drug addiction, and said it is something that police alone cannot deal with.

“We’re ever more alive to the chronic drug addiction issues that we’re facing in society, and we’re seeing this, not just in Northern Ireland, not just in Belfast, not just at the Royal Victoria Hospital, but in hospitals across the country where addiction issues are becoming a real challenge for hospital staff and communities,” he said.

He said officers are using specialist search dogs to deal with the issue at the Royal Victoria Hospital, but said the team is struggling with resources.

“There have been a number of planned operations to tackle the issue, using a drug dog in the hospital grounds on at least four occasions,” he said.

“There is a reality that the local policing team has been impacted by our budget, we’ve lost 50% of our resource in that local policing team.

“The resource that remains is often abstracted from doing the neighbourhood policing roles because of the other responsibilities that we have.”

Mr Boutcher said they are working with the hospital trust.

“This is something that we cannot do alone but I share your concerns about it,” he added.