UK government modern slavery statement

The UK Government has published its Modern Slavery Statement which sets out the government’s efforts to tackle modern slavery in supply chains. The report details how in 2019 the government took steps to identify, prevent and mitigate modern slavery in government supply chains and operations culminating in guidance for ministerial government departments being published in September 2019.

The report states that all ministerial government departments will begin the annual publication of their own modern slavery statements from September 2021.

The report can be read in full here.

Source: Gov.uk

Understanding and Policing Gangs

The Cumberland Lodge Report on gangs in the UK presents key-themes and recommendations that emerged from the Police Conference in June 2019 and a subsequent consultation held in October 2019.

Some of the recommendations for policing gangs included;

• to review UK policy on drugs
• adopt the public health model
• improve multi-agency partnerships
• review funding allocations
• use ‘smart targeting’ and chase the proceeds of crime

The report can be read in full here.

Source: Cumberland Lodge

Report: Both sides of the coin

A report has been published by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) which looks at how the police and the National Crime Agency (NCA) consider vulnerable people who are both victims and offenders in ‘county lines’ drug offending.

The report contains ten recommendations none of which are directly aimed at police forces.

The report can be read in full here.

Source: HMICFRS

European Drug Report (EDR) 2019: Trends and Developments

The EDR produced by EMCDDA and Europol provides an analysis of drug situation and responses to it across the European Union, Norway and Turkey. The most recent findings include that the European drug market once dominated by imported plant-based substance has evolved, where now synthetics drugs have grown in importance and production takes place inside its borders. Overall, the drug market is resilient and reflective of developments taking place at global level. Established and newer illicit drugs continue to create a challenge for effective policy responses. New technologies and encryption are increasingly prevalent in drug dealing networks. The purity of drugs remains high and prices relatively low, proving high availability across the continent. According to the report, the drugs market is a recognised contributor to chronic and acute global health problems. EMCDDA and Europol address a holistic approach to drug control and prevention.

Source: EMCDDA

Home Office Announces Review into Serious and Organised Crime

The Home Office has announced a formal review into serious and organised crime. The review will be led by Sir Craig Mackey QPM, former deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and the National Crime Agency (NCA), which will be the lead law enforcement agency.

The review will consider what powers, capabilities, governance and funding is needed to tackle the current threat posed by serious and organised crime, and will make recommendations based upon the findings. The recommendations will be presented the the Minister for Security in Spring 2020.

Source: Gov.uk

Home Secretary Announces New Measure to Tackle County Lines

The Home Secretary Priti Patel has announced a number of new measures aimed at tackling county lines drugs gangs. The measures will be supported by a £20 million investment by the Home Office.

The measures include:

• Expanding the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre
• Increased disruption on rail networks
• Investing in technology to disrupt county lines operations
• Working with money service bureaus to tackle illicit finances
• Increasing support for county lines victims

Source: Gov.uk

County lines: Drug dealers ‘pretend to be uni students’

An article by the BBC has discussed the idea put forward by Dr Mohammed Qasim, a researcher at Leeds Beckett University, that county drug lines gang members are enrolling at university in order to gain alibis for moving to different cities.

Dr Qasim conducted his research in Swansea, where he infiltrated a county lines gang. He noted that living as a student gave gang members from ethnic minority backgrounds a way to blend in to predominantly white areas to minimise the chance of being arrested.

Source: BBC News

Extremism Literature Overview

In recent weeks a number of papers relating to extremism have been published. This post will summarise some of them.

Critiquing approaches to countering extremism and terrorism via Prevent – H Fenwick

This paper notes that the reliance on the Prevent Strategy has been criticised for creating stigmatisation of Muslims, damage to social cohesion and as representing a striking recent increase in securitisation in the UK. However, it also notes that Prevent’s role in encouraging critical thinking and pluralism has also received some support.

Exploring radicalisation and Extremism online – an experimental study – M Littler

The paper uses the data collected from a 1,700 respondent poll conducted by You-Gov on the evening of Tuesday 16th April 2019. The research sought to explore the relationship between exposure to online extremist content, and social and political attitudes including support for violence. The results did not match the hypothesis. No relationship between the phenomena was found. Suggestions for this include ineffective stimulus material, or the conditions of the research. Sources for the stimulus material included information from the EDL. Further analysis found little evidence for the availability for extremist content to impact or or shift social and political attitudes.

Extremism online – analysis of extremist material on social media – I Awan, H Sutch & P Carter

This paper examines the differences between general online discussion of extremism and discussion inspired by offline events through the analysis of tweets and YouTube comments. The study focused on two events: the Shamima Begum case and the New Zealand Christchurch terrorist attacks. The paper states that cyber-meditated crime such as online extremism is not comparable to conditions of offline crime. Extremists may take advantage of how the internet provides the potential for a greater audience (reach/impact) with the ability to remain anonymous. This can lead to deindividuation.

Embedding human rights in countering extremism: reflections from the field and proposals for change – K E Brown, F Londras, J White

This paper states that generally speaking seven domains of Counter Extremism (CE) activity can be identified:

1. Family and parenting
2. Community
3. Counter-narratives
4. Policing and criminal justice
5. Human rights
6. Education
7. Healthcare

The majority of the work in CE is carried out at the local and community level and is concerned with addressing extremist narratives and ideology. The challenges and risks with the existing approaches are political and philosophical, institutional and functional. The paper recommends re-framing CE towards human rights as both a process and an “end-state”. The paper then proposes a set of guidelines to achieve this, and the establishment of an independent evaluative review body.

Critiquing approaches to countering extremism: the fundamental British values problems in English formal schooling – D Webber

This paper suggests that current policy has generated and continues to generate criticism from educators and faith groups. The paper highlights the issue that individual liberty barely features in the lists of values promoted in schools. Moreover, the paper highlights that the notion of ‘Britishness’ may be considered particularly divisive and problematic. It notes that schools tend towards other values frameworks that favour the promotion of values more universal and inclusive in nature.

Home Affairs Committee Report On Serious Youth Violence

The Commons Select Committee has published a report on Serious youth violence. In the report, the Home Affairs Committee state the current picture of serious youth violence noting that knife crime offences have risen by over 70% in the past five years. Moreover, the report highlights the growing number of young males being murdered.

The report calls the rise in serious youth violence a social emergency. It states that whilst the committee supports the Government’s public health approach to tackling the issue, the Serious Violence Strategy is completely inadequate. Furthermore, calling all non-policing interventions ‘public-health’ approaches does not match the reality of interventions taking place.

The report suggests that in order to tackle the issue effectively, better leadership and focus is needed for the Serious Violence Strategy. Also, more action needs to be taken to counter issues such as county-lines.

Source: www.parliament.uk

National Audit Office report: tackling serious and organised crime.

The National Audit Office (NAO) has published a report called Tackling serious and organised crime. The report details research undertaken by the NAO examining whether the Home Office and the National Crime Agency (NCA) tackle serious and organised crime in an effective and efficient manner.

Key statistics in the report include:

• Over 4,500 identified organised crime groups are currently operating in the UK.
• The government estimated a total expenditure of £2.9bn for tackling serious and organised crime in 2015-16 including front-line spending (£2.2bn) and spending on back-office functions (£0.7bn).
• The government estimated the social and economic cost (£37bn) of serious and organised crime in 2015-16.

As well as including key statistics, the report reviewed the 2018 strategy. The NAO concluded that the strategy tried to address shortcomings. However, it has not been wholly successful due to costs not being fully estimated and enablers for successful implementation not being in place. The report noted delays in the distribution of funding caused difficulties for law enforcement agencies because they were unable to plan and spend effectively. Moreover, the report highlighted the lack of a strong governmental accountability framework to drive the implementation of the strategy.

Source: National Audit Office