(Barrow and Furness)
(Ind):...The effect of county lines on these young
people is predictably devastating. The children’s charity Safer
London believes that 4,000 children are involved in the capital
alone. A National Crime Agency report last year
showed that nearly every police force area in England and Wales
had been affected to some degree. Of the 44 forces, 35 mentioned
knife crime linked to county lines and 32 mentioned gun crime.
Academic evidence shows that county lines drug-selling gangs are
generally much more violent than the local dealers who previously
controlled the market.
Last month, I was able to bring together Members of Parliament,
senior police officers from across the country, the Minister for
Policing and the Fire Service and his opposite number, my hon.
Friend the Member for Torfaen (Nick Thomas-Symonds), as well as
charities from across the country, to talk about this issue. The
representative from the National Crime Agency suggested that,
according to the latest estimate, there had been 1,000 county
lines in operation last month. That figure suggests an increase
of more than a third on the 720 that were reported last year.
However, the Daily Mail reports today
that that same organisation now estimates the number to be
1,500, which would be a nearly 100% increase in one year. I would
be grateful if the Minister could clarify those figures...
(Enfield North)
(Lab):...I asked to speak in this debate because I
secured a similar debate in Westminster Hall in January, and I am
pleased that there is now a debate in this Chamber. In the past
year alone we have seen an 85% increase in violent crime in
Enfield, which sounds unbelievable. My hon. Friend is right that
such county lines criminal activity is increasing week on week.
It is an amazing business model, and the children who are
involved in it are both victims and perpetrators.
The National Crime Agency has warned
about this for the past three years in their reports to
Government, and the Government are very late in coming to this
issue...
The Minister for Security and Economic Crime (Mr Ben
Wallace):...I know that the hon. Gentleman has called
for that. The national county lines co-ordination centre is about
trying to fill that space. It is not just a couple of desks; it
is more than 40 officers and staff, centred, pulling together not
only the intelligence, but some of the investigations and
response. They are making sure the investigations are in the
right place, so that where we pick up someone who is low-level,
we can trace across to an organised crime group that is already
under investigation by the Met, for example. That is one of the
main aims of this co-ordinated approach—the county lines
co-ordination centre. I have arranged for some hon. Members to
get a briefing by the National Crime Agency on that, and I am
happy to facilitate that for the hon. Gentleman if he would like.
Time is tight, so I will not be able to deal with all the points,
but I will write to the hon. Gentleman about some of the figures.
We recognise the figures that he used. We assess around 1,500
lines in service as of July. The improvements from the national
county lines co-ordination centre’s work with the National Crime Agency and the National
Police Chiefs Council has started to have an impact already. Last
week, the centre co-ordinated the first in a series of regular
intensifications of activity targeting county lines. In one week
alone, there were more than 200 arrests; 58 vulnerable people,
including a number of children, were identified and safeguarded;
deadly weapons, including hunting knives, a firearm with
ammunition, an axe, a meat cleaver and a samurai sword, were
seized; tens of thousands of pounds of suspected criminal cash
were seized; and significant quantities of heroin, crack cocaine
and other illegal drugs were seized. That is in one week, which
shows the benefit of that co-ordination. Whether it is a single
force or, I would venture, a co-ordination centre, that shows
what can be done when we focus and bring our efforts to
bear...
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