County lines support services

County drugs lines are unfortunately so common and have plagued the streets for a long time now. New data got released by the government showed that 2,740 county lines were closed in 2025 which is really good news for communities, however it is believed that still there are around 46,000 children in England that are involved in a criminal group, there are likely to be many more.

But let's break down really simply what county lines are. County lines is when a child or young person is recruited by a gang. The young person is forced to transport drugs throughout the country or county. The gang will recruit the young person by initially offering friendship to make the young person feel like a valued member of the gang, the gang will then give the young person gifts like food, designers clothes and shoes or alcohol and drugs. They will then be given a burner phone to operate, I'll explain how this worked later. Then the young person will be forced to sell and transport drugs, feeling like they have no choice but to do what the gang says.

Another thing that happens to keep the young person around is the group con them. They give them say 1kg of drugs, but tell them they gave them 2kg. They will then ask where the lost drugs have gone and require the young person to 'pay off' the loss. The young person gets caught up in a catch 22 and gets sucked into the world even more.

The 'lines' in county lines refers to phone lines, and this is how the gangs operate. They dedicated phone lines to take orders and delivery instructions for the drugs.

They will usually be burner phones, as they are less easy to track and are constantly changing to avoid getting caught.

The young person will be given a phone, the phone line for this phone will be given a code like J or X. This is the key for drug users to know who to call. If the young person has the number for X line, this number will be pumped out to all users. This is the number they will ring for orders and the young person will be in charge of that phone line.

Young people aged 14-17 are most likely to be targeted by these criminal groups, both male and female, but there have unfortunately been reports of people as young as seven being groomed into county lines.

Most police forces across the country have reported county lines activity in their area, it's not just a big city problem, it happens in rural areas too.

It doesn't matter where you're from, however, those from poor households, who regularly skip school or have problems at home may be more at risk. They can be easily manipulated into thinking they are friends with these gangs, they will look after them and take them under their wing

Girls are sadly often overlooked when it comes to exploitation and county lines, but we know that girls and young women continue to be affected, especially through grooming and manipulation. With young girls especially, a gang member might make them believe they are in a relationship, pretending to offer attention through affection, then the gang member will say 'well now you're my girlfriend you have to work for it'.

Young people are seen as easy targets because they're less likely to get caught or be known by the police. They can get drugs into smaller areas and the drugs are less likely to get 'lost' to the police.

County lines operations are often hard to spot, but there are visible signs. We could all be in a position to stop it. Collectively, whether it's a child, grandchild, neighbour or a young person you spot on public transport, we can safeguard more young people, if we all know what to look out for

An increase in using their mobile phone with lots of messages and calls coming through, OR multiple mobiles, especially one's that are being kept hidden in a draw or their school backpack, this could very well be a county lines phone. They're often an older phone so they're less easy to track.

Also, if a child comes home or turns up at school with unexplained injuries or bruising, that they might pass off as having happened at school or something trivial, but it could be an indicator that they're in trouble. They also may be anxious, frightened, angry or displaying other behaviours that make you worried.

If they start to appear to have more expensive items such as new shoes or the latest gadgets. As we spoke about earlier, they are often bribed and manipulated with expensive items to make them seem like they're being looked after.

School attendance, their behaviour or performance at school is another big indicator. Especially if this is a sudden change from previously, have they all of a sudden started skipping multiple days or weeks from school, have all of their grades dropped? This is a good one for not just parents, but anyone working in a school to look out for.