WILTSHIRE Police wants to scrap its drugs squad at a time when drug-related crime is at an all time high in north Wiltshire.

Many police officers are appalled by the proposals and have said they fear for the future of fighting drugs in towns like Calne and Chippenham.

Several Wiltshire police officers, who were not prepared to be named, said they were furious at the plan.

One officer, based in Chippenham, said: "Nobody in the job is happy about this.

"We all want the drugs unit. How can a force like Wiltshire, which prides itself on its drugs initiatives and things like Shop A Pusher, justify closing it?

"Nicking somebody for drugs is one really positive thing you can do. Everyone knows that so much other crime is related to it. To close it down would be a travesty."

The drugs unit, based at Melksham and covering the whole of north and west Wiltshire, consists of just three highly specialised officers.

It was set up five years ago and the force had prided itself on being one of the only counties in the country to have one.

But this week Chief Superintendent Martin Abbott, who is in charge of C Division which covers north and west Wiltshire, confirmed the drugs unit as it exists at the moment was under review as part of implementing new national guidelines. He made it clear that if he has his way the unit, which took part in Operation Cirrus putting eight drug dealers behind bars, will be closed by the end of the year.

"I believe the new arrangement could be in place before the end of the year but nothing is finally decided. This would not mean that the fight against drugs would be diminished. In fact it would be greater because it would be a better use of resources and more flexible,'' he said.

He explained that the new National Intelligence Model meant that more resources had to be put towards getting better information on a number of major crimes, in addition to drugs, such as burglaries and car crime.

He said these crimes were often related so it made sense for one unit to be gaining intelligence on them all.

He could not guarantee that the experienced officers in the existing drug unit would be part of the new set up. He said: "There may be a number of individuals with a lot of experience but no individual is bigger than the job."

But a number of other high ranking officers in Wiltshire with a background in the drugs battle are furious at the proposal and have pledged to fight it.

When first approached, senior officers in C Division claimed the Gazette had been misled over the drugs unit closure. By Tuesday, Chf Supt Abbott was willing to confirm the possible changes but denied it would mean a less targeted approach to catching drug dealers. "It is all about using resources in an appropriate manner," he said. He said Operation Cirrus was a good example of a joint operation.

The plan has also outraged drug campaigners in north Wiltshire, including Ann Adams, whose 20-year-old daughter Lyndsey is a heroin addict and hasn't seen her family since January.

It was her story which inspired the Gazette's Shop A Pusher campaign launched in conjunction with the police to put drug dealers behind bars.

Mrs Adams was furious to hear that the drugs squad was to close and said it made a mockery of all those people in the community who were trying to do something about heroin in north Wiltshire.

"I can't believe it. It's disgusting," she said. "After all the hard work people have done with Shop A Pusher and Reach Out. Are they stupid?

"That was one of the things that kept people going, knowing they had the backing of the drugs squad. If we had information we knew we could pass it on to them. This is a joke."

Another police officer said: "These are the only pro-active drugs officers in the county, who actually go out there and do the job. They are dedicated solely to drugs and drug-related crime.

"I doubt any other unit, which also has to deal with things like burglaries and car crime, would have the time to do the work that they do."

The threat of drugs to the county was spelt out by Detective Chief Superintendent Gary Chatfield, head of Wiltshire CID, last week when the force released crime figures for the year.

He warned: "We are expecting a huge influx of heroin and crack cocaine from Bristol, part of the Jamaican connection, and we are taking steps to address that threat.

"We are aware of the impact of drug addiction mainly heroin addiction on the level of volume crime, particularly burglaries. Of 950 people arrested for burglaries in the last year, 170 of them freely admitted to drug dependency, 56 per cent of them to heroin. That is a huge total and gives an idea of the size of the problem we are faced with."

This week Det Chf Supt Chatfield said: "Wiltshire will always continue to treat drugs as a top priority and do our utmost to catch the dealers.''