The government’s County Lines Programme has closed more than 2,300 ‘deal lines’ and charged more than 1,120 senior gang members in the year since July 2024, the Home Office has announced – the highest numbers since the programme began six years ago.
The programme has been focusing on ‘targeted policing of key transport networks and investment in automatic number plate technology’, with stabbings in the areas most affected by county lines activity also down by nearly 20 per cent. More than 3,200 children and vulnerable people have now been referred to support services by the programme, the Home Office adds.
Three new offences are to be brought in as part of the crime and policing bill – criminal exploitation of children, coerced internal concealment (where children are forced to hide objects such as drugs or SIM cards in their bodies), and cuckooing (where the homes of vulnerable people are taken over for criminal purposes). The first two will carry maximum ten-year penalties, with the third carrying a maximum of five years.
A report last year from the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and the National County Lines Coordination Centre (NCLCC) found that the county lines business model was now becoming more localised and less likely to cross police force boundaries, potentially making it more difficult to identify children being exploited locally.
‘The exploitation of children and vulnerable people in this way is disgusting and cowardly,’ said crime and policing minister Sarah Jones. ‘County lines gangs are also driving knife crime in our communities, and I want criminals to know that we will not let them get away with it. We will be relentless in going after these gangs.’