Success for Devon & Cornwall Police in latest national county lines intensification week
The latest national intensification week focusing on county lines has been a success for Devon & Cornwall Police. Intensification weeks are run nationally by the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and co-ordinated by the National County Lines Coordination Centre (NCLCC).
The intensification week ran from Monday 14 September until Sunday 20 September and saw extensive work by police officers and staff across the county to disrupt the work of organised drug gangs and safeguard vulnerable people.
During the week officers:
· Arrested five people suspected to be involved in county lines
· Safeguarded 60 people Devon & Cornwall who are at risk of, or actively being exploited by, a county line or other drugs group. This includes three children
· Identified at least two new county line groups operating in Devon and Cornwall
· Seized over £5,000 worth of Class-A drugs and £7,000 in cash from county line suspects
· Carried out patrols in drug criminality hotspots to deter activity
· Conducted awareness campaigns, sharing posters and policing knowledge at local schools and transport hubs to support members of the public to ‘know the signs’ of county lines
· Engaged with partner organisations – including housing providers and youth services - to raise awareness of county lines and provide targeted support to individuals where needed
Detective Superintendent Ed Wright said: “Across the Force, we’ve seen impressive results from this latest intensification week tackling county lines exploitation and protecting vulnerable people. Although this has been a week of national focus, we are working to tackle county lines gangs all year round and prevent the harm they can do to both local communities and the vulnerable people they exploit.”
“County lines” refers to a type of crime where drugs gangs exploit children and vulnerable adults to make them courier drugs and money across the country from the gang’s base in a large city to customers in towns across Devon and Cornwall. The “county line” refers to the mobile phone line which is the link for the gangs to sell drugs.
D/Supt Wright continued: “We ran a comprehensive awareness raising campaign over the last month and asking members of the public, if they have concerns or information, to report 100% anonymously to Crimestoppers. We are fortunate to live in one of the safest parts of the country and we want to work with all our communities to keep it that way.”
Alison Hernandez, Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, said: “We have worked hard with our communities to reduce crime in the force area to levels lower than those in any other force in England and Wales.
“Part of the solution to reducing crime is through initiatives like the Turning Corners project in South Devon, funded via my office, which sought to engage vulnerable young people to offer them an alternative to getting involved in criminality. But I strongly believe that robust enforcement taken against those individuals who would exploit others for their own criminal gain is vitally important. I’d like to congratulate those officers, staff and partners who took part in this operation, their actions have taken dangerous drugs off our streets and sent a strong message that we will not tolerate drug dealing in our communities.”
--- Note to readers: This message has been disseminated by Devon and Cornwall Police - please visit their official website for further information.