Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has been named as the fourth police force in the country to receive dedicated funding to take down county lines drug networks, the Home Office says.
The UK Government points to Manchester as consistently one of the top five areas in England and Wales for county lines drug activity. The force will receive additional support and money from the Home Office over the next three years. GMP will create a dedicated team to disrupt the highest harm and most profitable county lines. They will investigate the controllers of the phone lines used to push drugs such as heroin and crack cocaine, and arrest and prosecute them. The new team will work alongside GMP’s Challenger scheme against the exploitation and serious violence by county lines gangs and for the safeguarding of vulnerable children and adults.
Police and Crime Minister, Kit Malthouse, visited GMP recently. He said: “The controllers of drug networks around Manchester are ruthless criminals motivated by nothing but greed. They fuel violence and exploit children to do their dirty work, so they can stay undetected. But we see them, and with this dedicated team, Greater Manchester Police will do more than ever before to stop them and spare the local community from their poison.”
West Midlands and Merseyside and the Met are the other three ‘county lines importer force status’ forces, something begun in 2019. GMP Chief Constable Steve Watson said: “We are incredibly grateful to receive this additional funding, which will bolster our efforts to smash county lines activity and target those who prey on vulnerable children to commit their criminal deeds.
“These shadowy networks are often very complex, and the people involved are prepared to bring violence and serious crime to the streets of Greater Manchester, so establishing a dedicated team will allow us to focus more attention on them than ever before and get those responsible firmly in our crosshairs.
“Working alongside our partners within the existing Programme Challenger partnership, we’ll not only be disrupting and dismantling networks but also ensuring that the vulnerable people affected will get the best possible support available. We know that county lines activity is high in our area, and I want to make it known to anyone who is committing these crimes in Greater Manchester that, quite simply, we will not tolerate it and our newly established team will do everything in their power to stop these criminals operating.”
More on drugs in the June print edition of Professional Security magazine; the Home Office points to the ten-year drugs strategy, launched in December and previewed in the November print edition of Professional Security.
For an example of GMP and wider law enforcement work against organised crime behind drug dealing, visit https://www.gmp.police.uk/news/.
