The GSD have welcomed the RGP's announcement that it will be reinstating it's dedicated Community Policing Team as from January 2026.

A statement from the GSD follows below:

The opposition welcomes the announcement that the Royal Gibraltar Police (“RGP”) will be reinstating its  dedicated Community Policing Team as from Monday 5th January 2026, the initial disbanding of which has  been raised historically by the GSD as an issue of serious concern.  

In the same manner as the Community Policing Team has been reinstated, it is therefore hoped that there  will be a reconsideration of the Drug Squad issue to ensure maximum effectiveness in policing of this area.  

It is no secret, as the GSD has raised on many occasions in the past, that there have been issues with resilience  within the RGP in recent years, not least due to a depletion in its complement, and a decrease in the number  of experienced officers with the skills to deliver. The resulting negative impact on policing functions has  been obvious and worrying. Consequently, and as candidly but nonetheless pointedly highlighted by former  Commissioner of Police, Mr Richard Ullger, in his foreword to the RGPs Annual report for 2023/2024,  “Because of this, those areas with less risks have unfortunately succumbed to those that carry higher risks.”  

Shadow Minister for Justice, Joelle Ladislaus said: “The disbanding of the RGP’s Community Policing Team and its impact are issues which the GSD have been raising, and which were, more specifically raised by us during question time in Parliament on 24th October 2024. It is therefore unsurprising that three simultaneous  Policing Plans for the years 2022/2023, 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 have all outlined anti-social behaviour  and misuse and trafficking of drugs as areas to be prioritised. It is very much hoped that the return of the  Community Policing Team will go some way to addressing some of those issues.  

Minister Feetham also revealed in Parliament that the RGP no longer had a dedicated Drug Squad. He  attributed that decision to operational decisions taken by the RGP’s Command Team. My suggestion that  the Drug Squad had been disbanded due to resourcing issues was rubbished by the Minister. Since those  exchanges, the RGP’s Annual Report for 2023/2024 has completely vindicated our position stating:  

“The past year has seen the RGP Drug Squad officers redeployed due to competing operational priorities and  demand levels in other sectors of policing. This has had a major impact on our effectiveness in this area of  policing. We continue to target drug suppliers on a reactive intelligence based approach.” [p10 RGP Annual  Report 2023/2024] 

At the last paragraph on that same page of the Report, the observation is made that a 21% reduction in the  number of drug misuse offences on the year before waslikely to be “as a result of a reduction in the resources  available to tackle this issue. This reduction in resources is due to the need to redeploy assets to meet other  policing priorities.”