County lines and the impact of police response: a study of Norfolk compared with East Anglia and the nation (England and wales)

Abstract

In the region of 88% of all police forces in England and Wales have reported the operation of lines in their area. Norfolk is one of the highest ranked areas for association with county lines. The police force and government have subsequently input a number of operations, projects, and funding to tackle the issue. This study aims to utilise national data on drug offences within the UK. It will use independent studies to create an overview of county lines activity within Norfolk and East Anglia and the impact that police response has had on the issue. Graphical representation of the drug-related arrests identifies that there is no visible difference between Norfolk and other East Anglian counties (except Hertfordshire) or the Nation (England and Wales). Furthermore, the modern slavery statistics show that the Covid-19 lockdown caused an increase in the number of referrals to social services in relation to county lines. Case studies and local statistics show that there has been an impact within Norfolk and the police and government response is reducing the number of high harm lines operating within the county. The next step for the police is to collaborate with other services to work on a holistic approach to tackling the heart of the issue. The significance of this work is to highlight county lines in individual areas and whether more could be done to tackle the problem across the UK. Further study of more local areas should be carried out for comparison and to grasp an understanding of the enormity of the situation.