Police have closed down 20 County Lines drugs networks and made almost 200 arrests in the last six months – but crucially WMP are also working with partners to keep children from the clutches of drugs gangs.
Since last November Police have carried out 88 so called ‘safeguarding interventions’ – that’s action Police have taken to protect often vulnerable people we’ve identified as part of our criminal investigations.
The vast majority of those – 82 in total – have been children.
They are teenagers Police suspect are at risk of being exploited by gangs to run drugs or have been found in properties that are being ‘cuckooed’ or taken over as drugs safe houses.
Police have shut down more than 20 drugs lines in the last six months
One such intervention came in March after our officers conducted a drugs warrant in the Lea Hall area of Birmingham.
They found a 17-year-old boy at an address we suspected was being targeted by County Lines criminals as a potential drugs den.
He was referred to Birmingham Police’s ‘Exploitation Hub’ where our officers work with the local authority, children’s services, charities and support groups.
As a result he’s received mentoring, been enrolled on our Prince’s Trust programme to boost self-confidence and team bonding skills, and Police are working with housing to try and secure a house move.
Inspector Joanne Myatt-Jones from the Birmingham Police Partnerships team, said: “News headlines from County Lines jobs tend to be about the number of people arrested and the weapons, drugs and cash seized.“But work that goes on under-the-radar as part of those operations, with young people at risk of exploitation, is just as important.
“Not only does that provide some immediate safeguarding but longer term care and support designed to divert them away from crime and to brighter futures.”
County Lines crime sees drug gangs exploit and coerce vulnerable people, often children, to carry and sell illegal drugs from one area of the UK to another, usually across police and local authority boundaries.
In April alone a County Lines taskforce – part of the West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU) – took down 12 County Lines and arrested 22 people.
Chief Inspector Ronan Tyrer from the ROCU, said: “County Lines gangs are a poison in our communities; we will be relentless in ridding them from our streets and, crucially, protecting vulnerable victims.”