SURREY Police has denied that Farnham’s drug problem is spiralling out of control, as has been claimed by a town licensee this week.

The force confirmed it was aware of concerns raised by “one licensee in Farnham” that the use of cocaine has increased recently in and around the town centre.

But a police spokesman added: “This perception is not reflected in the number of drug-related crimes reported to Surrey Police, which have remained broadly the same year on year.”

Waverley’s borough commander, Inspector Gary Smith, has also addressed the licensee’s concerns – setting out officers’ proactive approach to drug crime.

He said: “We regularly hold meetings with licensees across Waverley through the PubWatch schemes, which allows for information and concerns to be discussed in open forum.

“While drug usage remains a concern throughout the UK, we have not seen an increase in drug-related criminal activity in Waverley, or had concerns raised via the PubWatch scheme.

“We have actively targeted those who try to supply drugs within our community and have successfully disrupted a number of ‘county lines’ groups that were distributing drugs across the borough.”

He added that the force also has drugs liaison officers and licensing officers who visit licensed premises to carry out full inspections and follow-up enquiries.

This includes pubs, nightclubs, hotels, restaurants, cafés, premises with late-night refreshment, music festivals and convenience stores to ensure conditions on their premises’ licence are met.

Insp Smith continued: “The licensing officers have a ‘rapiscan itemiser’ machine which can detect trace amounts of certain drugs on surfaces.

“As part of our intelligence gathering, they swab areas of the premises, such as toilets, to detect any drug activity.

“These results are shared with pub managers as an intelligence tool and a discussion is had to talk about preventative measures.”

Insp Smith also addressed concerns over the lack of police presence “in and around Farnham”.

He added: “Living in the safest borough in Surrey, we are fortunate that demands upon local officers are lesser than elsewhere in the county and we have a police office co-located in Farnham fire station from where officers patrol and respond on a daily basis.

“While we have fewer officers walking the beat than a decade ago, officers have been deployed in areas where they can have the biggest impact on fighting crime and keeping people safe, in line with the changing crime trends we have seen in recent years.”