County lines crime News and analysis
we draw the line?
sucked in. HR can work with local authorities and the police to help safeguard vulnerable employees, hears SIMON CREASEY
housing consultancy service at
Forbes Solicitors.
“So, getting into people’s homes,
seeing how people live, seeing if
people are struggling and if there’s
any evidence of drug misuse in
the property.”
He adds that registered housing
providers have been the launchpad
for the initiative, but the company
hopes to eventually roll the network
out to other UK regions, with an
emphasis on providing training and
building awareness of issues such as
county lines across other local
authority departments.
Another sector that has a crucial
role to play in helping to identify
county lines activity is education,
argues Qasim.
“The HR teams at schools,
colleges and universities need to
work better with their staff to look
out for early signs of their students,
or even their young workforce,
being enticed into drug activity,”
he says.
“Early intervention is important,
and HR needs to have good links
with external organisations that
will support the young person and
look at ways of trying to get this
young person away from this
particular lifestyle.”
The good news for employers
looking to take a lead on this issue is
there is plenty of information freely
available. In the first instance, Lenz
advises HR directors to visit local
children and adults safeguarding
websites, which contain useful
information about issues like county
lines and criminal exploitation.
“That would be your go-to portal
to get advice and guidance because
the HR department can support the
employee, but actually it’s not their
duty to manage the issue of the
exploitation,” says Lenz. “They can’t
keep the vulnerable adult or young
person safe. Their job is to keep
them in employment, if at all
possible. But if you have an
understanding HR department
and a management structure
that has a clue about the problem
and has some understanding
around how coercion and
control works, then actually
they vulnerable employees can
be supported.”
Crimestoppers’ van der Lely adds
that useful information and posters
are also available to download from
the Home Office website. These can
be put on the walls of staff rooms or
on the company intranet to drive
awareness of the issue. “They
companies could also consider
holding training sessions to
highlight the signs to spot,” says
van der Lely.
Anecdotal evidence from police
sources suggests that many
businesses have already started to
get to grips with the problem of
county lines drug gangs, but it’s
important that all companies take
the issue seriously. Ultimately
employers play a key role in offering
opportunities to young people
seeking a way out of their current
situation which can, in turn, help to
steer them down the right path. HR
While HR can support
employees, it’s not
their job to tackle
the exploitation
help identify where county lines
gangs might be operating.
“In some parts of the country to
get your taxi driver licence, or to
renew it, you need to do a course on
county lines and child sexual
exploitation,” says Lenz. “When the
Rotherham child sexual abuse
scandal came out local authorities
worked an awful lot with taxi
companies, so they would only get
their licences if they had done some
awareness training around it.”
A number of local authorities are
also putting measures in place to
help their own frontline workforce
identify and tackle the problem. In
late 2019 Forbes Solicitors launched
a Best Practice Partnership Network
in West Yorkshire with the aim of
improving collaborative working
between registered housing
providers, the police, firefighters
and social care when dealing
with anti-social behaviour
and safeguarding issues like
county lines.
“We’ve been really pushing the
value of housing being the eyes
and ears of the community,”
says Darren Burton, head of
Employers play
a key role
in offering
opportunities
to young
people seeking
a way out
All Photographies: AdobeStock
hrmagazine.co.uk February 2020 HR 13
/hrmagazine.co.uk