TAVISTOCK Police showed their no tolerance approach to drugs in the town during a late shift last week.

A team from the Tavistock Response Section actively patrolled the town and inside local establishments for signs of drug use and dealing last Friday night.

After initially responding to a domestic incident and stopping a motorist for driving without insurance, the team visited numerous establishments in Tavistock to find traces of drug use. One location showed positive traces of cocaine in each toilet.

Within minutes of leaving one licensed premise, the officers detained and searched two men by Tavistock’s Guildhall under the Misuse of Drugs Act — a quantity of money and articles that could be linked to drug supply was found on one of the men.

A police search was conducted in another area and a package of cocaine was found discarded on the ground.

A 17-year-old juvenile man was arrested for possession of cocaine with intent to supply and possession of criminal property. The investigation is still ongoing.

This arrest was a day after the same officers conducted a foot patrol in the Meadows and dealt with a 14-year-old male for carrying a ClipSeal bag of cannabis. The youth will be interviewed by police in the near future.

Sgt Dave Clarke from Response Team C said: ‘We are clamping down on drugs in Tavistock and conducting pro-active searches in and around the town. We are taking a positive stance against drugs — the result from Thursday and Friday proves that drugs will not be tolerated.’

West Devon inspector Mark Sloman said that officers in West Devon would continue to use their powers to proactively stop and search people who they suspect of carrying or selling drugs.

‘This latest arrest over the weekend shows that a minority of youngsters around Tavistock have made a conscious decision to ignore recent warnings given out by police, Tavistock College and parents, around the dangers of drug misuse.

‘Not only is the taking and selling of such controlled drugs in this country illegal, more worryingly they can endanger your life and if we are not successful in trying to educate these individuals we will use the law to effectively deal with them through the criminal justice system.

‘I am not prepared to allow people to think they can continually get away with selling drugs. Officers in West Devon will use their powers to proactively stop and search people who they suspect may be carrying or selling illegal substances. I would ask parents to look out for signs of drug misuse by their children and challenge them if they suspect them to be using.’

If you have any information that may help the police then please visit the Devon and Cornwall police website contact 101 or you can anonymously call crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

• A parent forum focusing on drugs is being held at Tavistock College tonight (Wednesday).

This is the second forum organised by parent Victoria Piper, who has worked closely with West Devon police officers.

The meeting is being hosted by the college following the death of Tavistock College student Hannah Bragg after she had an adverse reaction to MDMA in June this year.

The meeting will include a focused input from Devon and Cornwall Police.

Tavistock College principal Sarah Jones said: ‘We had positive feedback from the first session but parents felt it was heavily focused on the dark web and wanted more information on drugs specifically and on how to spot the signs of drug use on their children.

‘We don’t deal with individual children but it’s an education forum for parents to learn more about the impact of drugs. We do drugs education in school but we need to know that it is understood at home. It’s making sure that everyone is informed.’