Drug addicts help in county lines battle

Intelligence gathering from drug addicts in West Berkshire has lead to a reduction in so-called county lines drug dealing.

Superintendent Zahid Aziz of Thames Valley Police (TVP) told West Berkshire Council that there had been a ‘considerable footprint’ of county lines activity in the district before the pandemic.

“They were either using homes of vulnerable people [known as cuckooing] or coming by train to drop off drugs,” he said.

“We have seen that activity reduce, and we are continuing to work on collecting intelligence by talking to addicts.”

He said Operation Flip had resulted in seven stop and searches and four arrests in March.

Concerns about whether children were being co-opted for police intelligence were raised by councillor Steve Masters (Green, Newbury Speen).

“What safeguards have you got in place for children who are vulnerable or coerced into trafficking?” he asked.

Supt Aziz said TVP would never use under-18s as an intelligence source.

“Depending on circumstances, we take the view that the starting point is that these children are victims,” he said.

“But if someone is a persistent offender, then we will prosecute. We have no appetite to use children as sources.”

He was presenting a Building Communities Together Partnership report to West Berkshire Council’s overview scrutiny and management committee with chief executive Nigel Lynn on Tuesday.