In the United Kingdom, county linesdrug trafficking is the practice of trafficking drugs into rural areas and smaller towns, away from major cities. Often, the trade involves child slavery. Traffickers recruit vulnerable children, including children in pupil referral units who have been excluded from school, as drug dealers. Some young people are recruited via "debt bondage", whereby they enter county lines to pay off drug debts. Others take part of their own volition, owing to boredom and a lack of legitimate opportunity in marginalized communities. The term "county lines" refers to the phone numbers, or lines, dedicated to this activity. The practice is also known by those involved as "going country" or "out there".
Scale
Between the years of 2018 to 2019, National Crime Agency figures showed there were 1,500 drug trafficking routes of this sort in the United Kingdom, rising to 3,000; in that year the agency estimated the total turnover of county lines activities throughout the UK to be roughly £500 million. A 2020 report for the Home Office by Professor Dame Carol Black states that the county lines drug trade involved 27,000 young people in the UK.
Causes
In 2019, Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, blamed cuts in police numbers for the rise of county lines gangs. Also in 2019, police said that they lacked the resources to tackle County Lines. They mentioned cuts to youth services may have been a contributing factor. They mentioned it was difficult to get the funding. County Lines operation unit run by the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre. Jointly run by the National Crime Agency and National Police Chief's Council, it opened in September of 2019. It is thought that it has helped to find suspects and help victims of drug trafficking. A 2020 report for the Home Office by Professor Dame Carol M. Black traces the causes of the phenomenon to a combination of government cuts in youth services and drug recovery services, increased child poverty, school exclusions, and availability of purer forms of drugs.
Response
In 2018, a drug dealer was convicted of offences under the Modern Slavery Act relating to "county lines" activities. In 2018 The Children's Society, a British charity, criticised what it said was an inconsistent approach by professionals working with children, being concerned that, while some police and social workers viewed the practice as child exploitation, others treated vulnerable young people solely as criminals. In the same year Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, set up a "rescue and response" programme, which in its first year referred 568 young people to support channels. In 2019 he said that more than 4,000 children and young people had been found to have links with county lines activities. In October 2019, a nationwide police crackdown led to the arrests of 700 people alleged to be connected to county lines trafficking. In November 2019, Channel 4soap operaHollyoaks that they would be featuring an issue-led storyline inspired by the county lines trafficking. The long-running storyline sees teenagers Juliet Quinn and Sid Sumner be manipulated by Jordan Price and Victor Brothers into selling drugs to children in and nearby to their village.
