Community safety delivery plan outline 2021-2022
Priority three: county lines
Early intervention prevention
We want to:
- reduce the number of children and young vulnerable adults getting involved in County Lines or being criminally or sexually exploited
- increase the awareness of the warning signs and tactics used to entice children and young vulnerable adults into exploitative relationships
- develop a resilience and understanding to involvement in County Lines and exploitation amongst children, parents and anyone working with children and young vulnerable adults
To do this, we will:
- work with schools, pupil referral units and colleges to offer support, information and resources to enhance awareness and resilience
- raise awareness across key stakeholders including partner agencies and elected members
- develop a baseline of the numbers of those involved in, or at risk of becoming involved in County Lines/criminal or sexual exploitation
- improve and coordinate timely sharing of information and intelligence around children and young vulnerable adults at risk of involvement
- support existing countywide frameworks and support services that work with children and young vulnerable adults who are engaged in or at risk of exploitation
Managing perpetrators
We want to:
- tackle effectively those that are seeking to exploit children and vulnerable young adults
To do this, we will:
- work in partnership to share information and intelligence effectively to support swift and effective law enforcement
Supporting victims and witnesses
We want to:
- ensure that those who are involved or on the periphery of exploitation or County Lines get the best possible support to move away from the harmful lifestyle
To do this, we will:
- work closely with statutory agencies and commissioned partner agencies such as T3 and Catch 22 to get support to the right people at the right time
- commission services to provide diversionary activities
Public confidence
We want to:
- develop a wider awareness of the risk and issues around County Lines and exploitation of children and vulnerable young adults
To do this, we will:
- develop our own communication campaigns and coordinate with countywide and national weeks of action run by agencies such as the police and National Crime Agency