Drugs expert DC Nigel Forrest has been involved in drugs investigation for the majority of his 27 years in the police. He said drug use has changed dramatically.

DC Forrest said: “It used to be quite easy to catch dealers or users because we would keep observations on the house. The drug users would be at the address, then you would get a search warrant and find the drugs on the table or on display.

“But it has become extremely hard now because they are learning by their mistakes and they are running a business. Things are getting much harder for police.

“You would hear drugs were at somebody’s address but now they know it is a no no. It used to be local people who were dealing to locals. But due to the success of the drugs unit the local people aren’t interested so people are coming down from other areas to deal.

“Now they are using mobile phones and arranging meeting places and they are keeping drugs secreted so we have to be 100 per cent certain that the drugs are there.

“Drug dealers aren’t going to supply to faces that are unknown.

“They did move to doing it on the streets and we could see what was going on but they are now covering all angles to make life more difficult for us.”

In the past few years, new legislation has been introduced so police can keep suspected dealers in custody for up to eight days by applying for an extension from the magistrates’ courts and by working with the Crown Prosecution Service.

The extensions can give police time to gather evidence that offenders try to hide.

He said that addicts have told the team that drug abuse gives them a purpose in life.

“They have told us that heroin gives them a purpose in life. I am not saying these people get a buzz out of life but they wake in the morning, they take a bit of heroin, they go out committing crime to finance their addictions, then they go and purchase the drugs, then they take them.

“If they don’t have that structure, they don’t know what to do,” he said.

He said drug users committing crime has a knock-on effect for the community as it can impact on the NHS, home insurance and prices in shops.

He said: “The quality of life if you have got people hanging around waiting for a drug dealer also makes people feel very uncomfortable.”

Although the team acts to clamp down on drug crime, it works to get help for users to prevent them from reoffending.

DC Jamie Thompson, who has worked for the police in Warrington for nearly 10 years, said: “People want that push towards help.

“Some people see drugs officers as a team that wants to lock people up. The people we want to lock up are those who sell drugs to vulnerable people. I would prefer to help somebody to get out of an addiction because otherwise they will come back to reoffend. But to see a drug dealer receive a sentence that is reflective of the crime, I feel I am giving something back to the community.”

The team refers users to partner agencies where they can get treatment and medication on prescription.

Conditional cautions are issued by the DDU, which covers Warrington and Halton, as a deterrent to reduce the demand of drugs.

DC Forrest said: “People get frustrated with us and quite rightly so because they give us information and they don’t think it gets acted on.

“We do act on all the information but it doesn’t mean we can act on it straight away. It forms part of a puzzle, just bear with us.”

Drug dealers who offend three times can face a life sentence.

l Anyone with information about illegal drug use in the town should call the DDU on 0845 458 0000 or Crimestoppers, anonymously on 0800 555111.