Introducing #Citadel – the innovative new project launching in Kettering this week

An innovative project called #Citadel is due to launch in Kettering this week and will spearhead a new way of working in order to tackle the harm caused by drug addiction in the town with anticipated, far-reaching benefits for the whole of Kettering.

 

The new, intelligence-led partnership project will work by using a holistic approach to help solve the issue of addiction to Class A drugs along with the associated problems like crime, anti-social behaviour and harm to the environment.

 

An intelligence-led approach will be used to identify the most vulnerable people in the town with drug or alcohol addictions and possibly mental health problems too, in order to tailor help and support, while gathering data for an in-depth understanding of the drugs market. This will mean help, support or enforcement activity can be concentrated on the areas which need them most.

 

The partners involved in the project include Police, the Northamptonshire Health and Wellbeing Board, The North Northamptonshire Community Safety Partnership and the Child and Adult Safeguarding Partnerships, made up of councils and NHS organisations, who will all have their part to play.

 

All the partners will work together to share information and offer targeted support meaning that in the longer term, there will be reduced pressure and demand on social services, the NHS and public health. Further, likely benefits include reduced crime, a decrease in anti-social behaviour and street begging and increased wellbeing. This will have parallel benefits to businesses and the local economy.

 

If successful, this new way of working will be rolled out to other towns across Northamptonshire.

Detective Superintendent Lee McBride, who is the force lead for tackling Serious Organised Crime, said:

 

“This is an exciting new project which I hope will be really positive for Kettering. We want to work together to get to the root-cause of drug addiction and then respond quickly and efficiently to address it – hence the public health approach because drug addiction, supply and demand is not something we can arrest our way out of.

 

“People will undoubtedly ask, why Kettering? The reason it was chosen is because it’s a market town with good travel infrastructure and when we conducted a number of locality reviews we felt it is an area which would really benefit from this whole-system approach. All the partners involved expressed a real desire to take part in the project because of the anticipated positive impact it would have on their communities and the exponential benefit for the whole town.

 

“In essence, this is a whole-system approach which will be responsive so we are able to focus help and support in the areas which need it most. If this project is as successful as we hope it will be, we will roll it out to other areas, in fact partners in towns in the west of the county have already expressed an interest.

 

“Finally, we need the people of Kettering to join us in ensuring the success of the project by sharing information about anybody they know with drugs-related vulnerabilities, by calling us on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111. I’d like to build on and harness the generosity of spirit displayed by our communities during the COVID-19 pandemic and the desire shown to support those within our communities who need help.”

 

You can get involved right away by dialling into a special, one-off Facebook live event this Thursday, July 9 at 4.30pm with an expert panel on-hand to answer all your questions about the project.

See Detective Superintendent Lee McBride talking about #Citadel and the Facebook live event.