Agenda item

11.05pm

The report of the PCC sets out activity by the OPCC and Thames Valley Police in delivering the strategic priority of fighting serious organised crime, as set out in the Police & Criminal Justice Plan 2021-2025.

A report of  the Scrutiny Officer is  attached which provides a summary of a Home Office publication on the criminal exploitation of children, young people and vulnerable adults for the supply of drugs, and transportation of the associated money and weapons (County Lines).   

A report of the PCC set out the activities by the OPCC and Thames Valley Police in delivering the strategic priority of fighting serious organised crime, as set out in the Police & Criminal Justice Plan 2021-2025. The report before the Panel contains a myriad of different risks but the focus in the report was around vulnerability, particularly around County Lines.

The PCC reported that serious organised crime can come in many forms but the report provided a particular focus on protecting vulnerable people. Serious Organised Crime did not only taken place in big cities with the reality that this crime took many forms and took place in many areas, including rural areas.

There were lots of different crimes which were related to serious organised crime such as vehicle crime and the stealing of catalytic converters which was a sophisticated crime as these were stolen to order.

The Rural Crime Team have made great efforts to tackle the trade in stolen vehicles and machinery, supporting the introduction of new legislation. Retail crime and the theft of vehicles and machinery had to be identified as serious organised crime.

The Panel was informed that a Serious Organised Crime was County lines. This was a violent and exploitative form of drug distribution. A common feature of county lines is the exploitation of children, young people and vulnerable adults who are instructed to deliver and/or store drugs, and associated money or weapons, to dealers or drug users, locally or in other counties.

A report was also provided to the Panel which summarised the Home Office guidance on Criminal exploitation of children and vulnerable adults: county lines.

The PCC referred to Police Forces looking to disrupt operations, but it was difficult to measure the disruptions of the criminal network. One such disruption resulted in recently Thames Valley Police making 98 arrests during a week of drug busts targeting county lines.

Members’ Questions:

(1)   To help the fight against “County Lines”, what training do professionals in other organisations receive (teachers, health workers, social workers etc) to prevent young people from being coerced into such crimes.

[The PCC replied that it was not only the Police that were trained. There was specialised training, but more could be done. There was lots of training carried out around Modern Slavery.   Where someone is suspected of being a victim of modern slavery then they should be considered a child or adult at risk and the relevant child or adult at risk operational guidance followed. The Force will seek support from relevant partner agencies and address any immediate safeguarding requirements. A referral may then be made into the National Referral Mechanism in line with the operational guidance.

The biggest difficulty was getting into the NHS and providing training.  Partners needed to be pushed more and look at the risks. All had a provider responsibility and a serious violence duty which was to ensure relevant services worked together to share information and worked together on interventions to prevent and reduce serious crimes within their communities.

There was the Hospital Navigator  Scheme where trained individuals, based primarily in A & E departments, who talked to at risk patients and provided support that aimed to prevent their involvement in future serious crime.  

The message and knowledge was much more difficult to communicate in primary care settings and work could be carried out through MASHs to get the message out to partner professionals.]

(2)   There have been reported cases of Modern Slavery in the care system. Was there any awareness campaign or planned training provided in the care system regarding Modern Slavery as members of the public regularly came into contact with carers?

[The PCC replied that there was a question of how far should the message and influence go on this. It was not just the responsibility of TVP, but of all statutory partners and care providers to assist the Police in giving out shared messages on modern slavery. Representatives of local authorities also had a role to play in terms of the training but with the Police co-ordinating the training.]

(3)   The PCC was asked what problems did the lack information sharing across partners and agencies because of restrictions caused by GDPR cause in the prevention of these crimes?

[The PCC replied that there needed to a cultural change with a move away from ethical concerns about sharing data, to it being unethical not to share the data when there were potential risks involved. Reference was made to the data project around serious violence in the Thames Valley, which was looking how to share the data more freely to improve things.

In relation to MASHs there was a project which was looking at sharing individualised data, with all the right safeguards in place amongst agencies for those individuals who were at risk of violence or exploitation. Work was taking place with the Information Commissions Office. There was some live data going into that and there will be some useful tools coming out before the end of the year.

There were three local authorities who had yet to sign up to the project but progress was being made.]

(4)   In terms of collaboration with other Forces, the PCC was asked about the work which took place with the Customs and Border Police to combat Modern Slavery?

[The PCC replied that there was a reliance on regional partners. Thames Valley, whilst not having any borders, particularly international borders had good operational links with the regionalised organised crime unit who would be dealing with the Border Force, in terms of the importation of weapons. This was why serious organised crime and exploitation was a complex picture in terms of organisation within the force because of the regional and force units working on protecting vulnerable people team and the violence reduction unit.]

(5)    The PCC was asked how children were treated who were involved in this serious organised crime. What measures are being taken to ensure those children affected are back to normality?

[The PCC reported sometimes the victim and perpetrators were not easily identifiable, because of the complexity. There was a national referral mechanism which was encouraging for Thames Valley in terms of referrals made, as the Force was very good at using the system.

It was acknowledged that children were often victims of exploitation, however, there were some young people who were perpetrators of crimes and were causing harm to communities. There were some young people who were on the cusp of being a victim and being a perpetrator and it was difficult for the Police whether to make a referral or to charge. There were risks in dealing with these cases.

Local Authority Youth Offending Teams supported individuals and there was a PCC funded programme in Milton Keynes and a Home Office Homicide Prevention Fund for Slough. The PCC said he hoped to roll out programmes across the whole of Thames Valley.]   

(6)   What preventative work is being carried out with schools to educate teachers and youth workers, by providing them with information and resources on County Lines and other crime issues, helping to challenge young people’s preconceptions and raise awareness of this exploitation? Reference was made to an event which took place outside Reading Football Club called “A Code”. This was a real street presentation and focussed on County Lines and raising awareness for young people. 

[The PCC referred to the “Our Choices” programme in schools which had been delivered in Oxfordshire and was hoped to be rolled out all over Thames Valley. This programme was designed to bridge the gap between Year 6 and Year 7 when children are less dependent on their parents and this was a big risk point for children.

The PCC said he was to rationalise the visits that several police officers may make to schools over a year as this was not well co-ordinated. The programme of education given to schools needed to be more coherent. The PCC also commented on how TVP engaged with parents who had a responsibility for their children and to spot signs of possible exploitation etc , not just teachers and health professionals.]

(7)   The PCC was asked about the outcomes and whether things had changed or improved as a result of the strategic priority of fighting serious organised crime?

[The PCC referred to details provided in the report where work has taken place across the Regional Organised Crime Unit network nationally to standardise these assessments. The PCC had also proposed work across the South East in order to standardise assessments across Forces. Disruptions defined as “Major” increased from 33 to 59 in the year to July 2023 compared with the previous year.

There had been a presentation given at a recent PCC Performance and Accountability Meeting Liaison Meeting with the Chief Constable showing data and comparisons with previous years of the disruptions of serious organised crime and this would be shared with the Police and Crime Panel. [Action: PCC].

(8)   In terms of the wider partnership work and in particular the Choices Programme, the PCC was asked whether the strategic approach was consistent, in relation to dealing with perpetrators and victims who have been exploited. It would be difficult for officers to distinguish between the two, particularly if young people do not have a choice if they were being exploited.

[The PCC replied that it was about some of the choices some young people made. It was all about making good healthy choices through your life, whether it be financial, some of the people you associate with and the things which you were involved in which could lead to exploitation. It was acknowledged that there were young people who did not have a choice due to their family backgrounds, however, the majority of people would make a choice at an early age which was a reasonable choice and perfectly innocent in their perception at the time. They became entrapped and this was where they were exploited.

In terms of prevention, educating people of the risks they were taking and how they come become entrapped and exploited was important.]

(9)  Reference was made to the brilliant work which the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hubs (MASH) did, and that Members should go and have a look at what they did in terms of safeguarding young people.

[The PCC said that every local authority had a MASH and he would encourage all Members to have a look at the work which was done. Reference was made to the automated response service which speeded up responses to risks identified. An example was given of schools being notified automatically if a child was at risk for a reason. This would enable the school to tackle the problem and be made aware quickly if the child was at risk.]

The Chair congratulated the PCC on County Lines Intensification Week which saw 98 arrests but asked whether it would be possible to have a break down of the arrests and what end of the criminal scale were they (young drug sellers or a kingpin of a criminal organisation). The PCC said he would happily find out and the information would be available around crime type. A national summary was carried out annually and broken down into local authority areas. [Action:PCC]

RESOLVED - That the report of the PCC be noted and the information provided in the answers to Members’ questions be noted.