National County Lines Coordination Centre Becomes Fully Operational

Steve Rodhouse, National Crime Agency (NCA) Director General of Operations said:  “County lines is a national problem.  Supply gangs are responsible for high levels of violence in addition to the exploitation and abuse of vulnerable adults and children.”

The UK response to this crime has recently been significantly strengthened as the £3.6million National County Lines Coordination Centre became fully operational as of Friday 21 September 2018.  It is the latest measure in the government’s response to the recent rise in serious violence, set out in the £40million Serious Violence Strategy, and its operational capacity involves:

• Multi-agency, 38-strong team of experts from the NCA, police officers and regional organised crime units
• Developing national intelligence picture of complexity and scale of threat
• Prioritising action against most serious offenders
• Engaging with partners across the government to tackle wider issues
• Intensifying the investigation of 200 existing active cases
• Ensuring that vulnerable people are identified and safeguarded
• Understanding factors underlying drug demand
• Recovering proceeds of crime

Duncan Ball, Deputy Assistant Commissioner and lead for gangs with the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said:  “The very nature of county lines offending means that we can only truly tackle it by bringing together all UK police forces, law enforcement agencies and other partners to create a unified national response.  Through this collaboration, the National Police Chief’s Council and the NCA will provide national coordination, guidance and support to the frontline officers and staff who are working tirelessly to bring these ruthless gangs to justice.”

 Source:                 Gov.uk

Home Office guidance: criminal exploitation of children and vulnerable adults via county lines

The Home Office first published guidance for frontline professionals on dealing with county lines in July 2018, this month (September 2018) a newer version has been published.  This guidance is designed to supplement an organisation’s existing safeguarding policies and forms part of the government’s approach to ending gang violence and exploitation.  It includes:

• A look at what county lines is
• Signs to look for in potential victims
• What to do about it

Source:  Gov.uk

County lines: posters for letting agents and landlords

The Home Office have published posters to support the government’s work to deal with county lines – where urban drug dealers explain their activity into small town markets.

Source:  Gov.uk

New national unit to tackle exploitation of vulnerable young people

Nadhim Zahawi, Children and Families Minister, announced at the end of August 2018 that a new national unit, backed by up to £2million and to be launched in 2019, will offer tailored support to local councils in the safeguarding of vulnerable children and young people against CSE, trafficking, modern slavery, gang activity and going missing via coercion by criminals into, for example, drug trafficking in relation to county lines (trafficking drugs in rural areas).

 The unit will operate up until 2022 and will support local practitioners by providing:

• advice and directing authorities to resources
• an online forum for professionals
• additional staff with experience in tackling particular areas of exploitation
• assessment of an area’s needs, strengths and weaknesses in responding to threats of exploitation

It will work alongside and in conjunction with both the:

• Trusted Relationships Fund: £13million for 11 local authorities across England to help young people at risk of abuse to foster ‘trusted’ relationships with positive adult role models. Comes after a review by the Early Intervention Foundation, commissioned by the Home Office, which showed a lack of dependable adult is often an important factor in child abuse and exploitation cases.
• Serious Violence Strategy: published by the Home Office in April 2018, sets out the government’s response to serious violence and recent increases in knife and gun crime and homicide.

Victoria Atkins, Minister for Crime, Safeguarding and Vulnerability, said that the combination of these three government initiatives “will provide vital support to children and help steer them away from destructive harms”.

Source:   Gov.uk

Farmers resorting to “medieval” defences to prevent thefts

Farmers are resorting to “medieval” fortifications, such as earth banks and trenches, alongside CCTV, floodlighting and motion sensors to protect their property from theft.

Thefts of quad bikes, agricultural vehicles and 4x4s has increased by 13.4% in the last year, and the total cost of rural crime is £44.5m.

NPCC rural affairs lead DCC Craig Naylor has created the first UK-wide strategy to tackle rising rural crime, with a focus on organised gangs.

Source: BBC

2018 National Rural Crime Survey

The survey was commissioned by the National Rural Crime Network which is made up of 30 Police and Crime Commissioners from across the country, supported by a wide range of other bodies with a deep interest in community safety and rural affairs.

The Network has produced ten recommendations as a result of the survey:

1. We need Chief Constables to change the policing of rural communities
2. We need to do more to understand rural crime and its impact
3. We need to put that understanding into practice
4. We need to put more focus on farmers and specific rural businesses
5. We need to work together on organised crime
6. We need the criminal justice system to understand rural communities
7. We need justice to be done and be seen to be done for rural communities
8. We need to make reporting crimes easier
9. We need to do more to help rural residents and businesses with crime prevention
10. We need to ensure victims of fly-tipping are not left to pay the price of others’ actions

Source: National Rural Crime Network