Drug dealing in multiple hospitals, policing board told

Last week, the BBC revealed reports of drug dealing at the Royal Victoria Hospital site in Belfast

Reports of drug dealing in a Belfast hospital emergency department seems to be "snowballing" into multiple hospitals, the chairman of the Policing Board has said.

In September, a BBC News NI investigation revealed rising reports of drug dealing and usage at the Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH) site in Belfast.

Figures from a freedom of information (FoI) request found there had been 22 reports of drug dealing at the hospital in 2024.

Mukesh Sharma used the chair's privilege to ask the first question to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) chief constable at Thursday's meeting.

His question to Jon Boutcher followed the BBC report which he said "started off with drug dealing in the A&E services of a particular hospital".

He added that the situation now seemed "to be snowballing into being in multiple hospitals and right across different parts of the hospitals".

"This level of activity in the midst of some of the most vulnerable people in our society is taking place," Mr Sharma added.

'Chronic' drug issues

In response, Mr Boutcher said the service was "evermore alive to the chronic drug addiction issues that we are facing in society."

"We're seeing this not just in Northern Ireland, not just in Belfast, not just at the Royal Victoria Hospital, big hospitals across the country where addictions issues are becoming a big challenge for hospital staff and communities," the chief constable said.

"This is not something we can do alone but I share your concerns about them, chair."

A needle was found in the emergency department toilets

Mr Boutcher said the force are seeing a "dispersal" of people from the city centre to the hospital with regards to drug addiction.

"This is something we cannot deal with alone and we certainly can't arrest our way out of it," he added.

The chief constable said there had been a number of planned operations at the RVH to tackle the issue, including using a drug detection dog on the grounds on at least four occasions.

He said budget pressures on his force were affecting the ability to respond.

"There is a reality, and I don't want to sound like a broken record, that the local policing team, I asked to look at how that configuration had been impacted by our budget," the chief constable said.

"We've lost 50% of our resource in that local policing team."

Despite this, he added, arrests were rising in the area.

Local police 'frustrated'

Assistant Chief Constable Bobby Singleton said there had been conversations "with a very frustrated local policing commander because there's a great deal more they'd like to be doing around this and other issues".

He also commented on the risk of "others" seeking to step in.

"I would also recognise the fact that in circumstances like this where the police aren't able to engage in this activity, there is a very real risk, that others would seek to step in to any perceived vacuum that's left behind," he told the board.

"I think as an example of an issue, it's a very relative one in terms of the pressures we're under but also the very real risk that emerge from that as well."

Bobby Singleton says many local officers want to do more to help

Figures obtained by the BBC through an FoI request to the police showed an increase in anti-social behaviour, including drug usage and drug dealing.

From January to August 2024, there were 22 reports of drug dealing in and around the hospital compared to five reports in the same period in the previous year.

The figures also showed 19 arrests were made in the first half of 2024 for at least one drug offence, such as possession or trafficking.

But the FoI request notes state that due to the nature of gathering information, there could be more incidents that fall outside the method of data search.

The Belfast Trust had previously said the increase in drug taking and dealing on its sites was a worrying trend.