The new man at the helm of Medway policing says the war on drugs is ever evolving and one he is determined to stay on top of.

Ch Supt Adrian Futers has only been in his new position as area commander of north division for a month but has already taken steps to tackle dealers.

Interviewed at the Medway Messenger offices, he said: “Drug activity is something that concerns everybody, and is a reality of modern society.

“We have quite an urban environment to police and drugs is the realty it is in this area.

“We will continue to focus on trying to tackle that, and we’ve taken out a number of drug dealers and we do so on an almost weekly basis across the division.

“Equally, burglary is very important and can be hugely impactive on people, particularly around domestic burglary and that’s an area we have for a number of years focused on and will continue to do so.”

One of his challenges is the closeness of Medway to London, which creates particular problems. “The proximity to the Metropolitan Police area is a challenge in this division,” he said. “The rail links and the road links see a lot of cross-border activity between particularly south London and into this area.”

Without giving too much away, he added: “We’ve got a range of tactics that we use, both covert and overt policing methods, in order to tackle drugs.

“It is becoming a more complex environment for us to investigate, but equally our tactics are evolving and changing in order to try and stay one step ahead.

“I’ve got a real dedicated team of proactive officers who are well supported by the public with good community intelligence and once we can build that picture, we can then launch some really effective tactical operations in order to take those people out and take them to court.

“We’ve seen some real good successes recently around that.”

Mr Futers, 47, a big rugby fan, who is married with two children, has worked in the Towns before and has been with the force for 28 years.

He lived in Walderslade before he was married and rose to the rank of inspector at Rochester, also working at the former Chatham police station.

He was “excited” about taking charge of the north divison which also covers Gravesham, Dartford and Sittingbourne, which means he is overseeing about 700 officers and 200 support staff.

He has been district commander at Maidstone and Sevenoaks and was head of criminal justice at the police headquarters. Although he has a wealth of experience and knowledge, he said it was his officers who make the area a safe place to live.

He said: “Officers who police Medway do a fantastic job.

“Yes there are occasions when perhaps we don’t meet the service expected by the public, but in the vast majority of times the service is really good.

“The challenge for us around emerging communities, not just in Medway but elsewhere, is a difficult one, while trying to ensure our service meets their needs but also to understand that there may be a minority of a criminal element in those communities.”

Police need to be able to respond to changing demographics and crime patterns, with a move away from street crime to cybercrime and exploitation of children, and work with social services and the council.

Despite these challenges, he is confident of the future. “It is a real privilege to come back to work in Medway.

“Some of the staff I used to work with are still here.

“A lot of people like to work here in Medway as it is a great place to live and work and it’s still a relatively safe place to live.”