Cannabis move sees more Bobbies

More police are expected to be drafted on to the streets of London after the Government's decision to relax the law on cannabis.

The time saved dealing with trivial drug offences will allow Scotland Yard to claw back more than 74,000 man hours per year and help concentrate police resources on solving more serious crime.

It is the equivalent of putting an extra 26 officers on the beat all-year round, and will free police from the time-consuming arrest procedures they were forced to go through when arresting cannabis-users carrying tiny amounts of the drug. Courts will also gain savings of tens of millions of pounds a year, experts believe.

The softly-softly approach to cannabis was secretly pioneered in Lambeth by Commander Brian Paddick. When he took over this year, he found his beat bobbies were tied up for hours a day on trivial cases of cannabis-possession. A typical case would take officers off the streets for five hours, cost £10,000 to bring to court and lead to an average fine of £45.

Mr Paddick decided to act - without telling his bosses at Scotland Yard or giving any early warning to the Home Office - and told his officers to stop arresting people caught in possession of the drug.