Regional County Lines Coordinator
The Regional County Lines Coordinator helps you to improve your response to any county lines threat by identifying links and opportunities through relevant forces and partner agencies.
Services
Our Regional County Lines Coordinator is DI Mark Whitaker.
Mark provides:
- advice and support to help forces deal with their threat of county lines
- safeguarding support to communities focused on the young and vulnerable
- tactical advice and support on all aspects of Pursue, Prevent, Prepare, and Protect activity
- key SPOCs regionally and nationally to help promote joint operational working
- links to enforcement partners and agencies
- help to coordinate joint operations across the UK, including the use of ANPR
- management of Home Office surge funding applications for county lines operations
- county lines training for all police and partner agencies
Supports forces with applying for, managing and enforcing:
- Slavery and Trafficking Orders (STO)
- Slavery Trafficking Risk Orders (STRO)
- Slavery Trafficking Prevention Orders (STPO)
- Drug Dealing Telecommunication Restriction Orders (DDTRO)
Established examples of best-practice
The below are examples of how we are working smarter to take an effective 4P approach to county lines:
- Op Magpie: Using call data from key drug users to target the highest impact lines in your area
- Op Pester: Following up on Pursue activity to send bulk messages to drug users, signposting to local support services
- Op Yamata: Attributing call data to geographic areas – often linked to Clear, Hold, Build sites – to better target not just enforcement activity, but Prevent and Protect activity
The NCLCC Power App
The National County Lines Coordination Centre Power App contains all the signposting to resources you need about county lines including important contact details.
Section 45 – a useful reminder of how it should be implemented when raised as a defence
Who can use the services?
- All police officers and staff
- Partner agencies
We are keen to offer initial advice on how our capabilities and other partners may be able to assist your investigation. Bids for capabilities then need to be taken to your Force Tasking meeting.
Recent work by the County Lines Coordinator
Sharing best-practice
Officers and staff from all our regional forces took part in a workshop led by Mark focussed on how investigators can use new tools and technology to cut through vast quantities of data to ensure they’re having the biggest impact on the highest harm offenders and maximising opportunities to protect the young and vulnerable people they look to exploit.
Hydra training across the region
Mark facilitated the Regional County Lines/Exploitation Hydra training which is attended by over one hundred officers from across the South West, including representatives from social services, OFSTED and housing services.
Linking forces with charity partners
Mark introduced Ivison Trust (formerly Parents Against Child Exploitation) to the South West with successful pilot schemes in a number of our regional forces, including Devon and Cornwall Police and Gloucestershire Constabulary. The scheme looks to offer help, support, and educate parents around the dangers of children becoming involved in county lines.
MSHT and county lines
Assisted the successful implementation and use of Modern Slavery Human Trafficking (MSHT) legislation in county lines investigations, enabling those exploiting children to be classified as child abusers. This has enabled a number of Slavery and Trafficking Risk and Prevention Orders to be taken out against county lines offenders.
Taking a multi-agency approach to intensification weeks
Overseen and coordinated a multi-agency approach to County Lines Intensification Week with new and innovative tactics being used by regional forces including Op Pester and Drug Dealing Telephone Restriction Orders (DDTROs), as well as improving our intelligence and disruption opportunities with HMPPS.
Success in working with regional forces
With the use of the Home Office surge funding the regional forces have been supported with £175,000 to finance proactive county lines operations, which to-date has led to 13 county lines being closed and over 60 persons arrested. An additional £250,000 grant has been authorised to help our forces with their mobile phone/digital media capabilities.
Improving intelligence
Mark says: “We have seen improvements in data sets for the National County Lines Intelligence Matrix. Harm indicators, which allow us to know which lines pose the greatest threat, harm and risk, were very poorly filled in on PND. Through intervention at ROCU level and working closely with forces this has improved by 50 percent, which is a great achievement by all involved.”
How to request services
Our Gateway, within the Regional Intelligence Unit, can provide more information about this service:
- by phone – 01278 647 299
- email – swrocugateway@avonandsomerset.police.uk
The Regional Intelligence Unit is available:
- Monday to Friday 08:00 – 22:00
- Weekends 08:00 – 16:30
For complex or resource-intensive requests, or requests for sensitive tactics, you will be asked to complete the BID Capability Form. Please refer to the Tasking Procedural Guidance about this process.
For urgent, out-of-hours enquires, call 01278 647 299 and the number will divert to the on-call SWROCU officer.