Gangs exploiting vulnerable children to carry out criminal activity have adapted their approach during the Covid-19 pandemic creating new risks for young people, campaigners warn.
Despite three national lockdowns and the closure of schools – where gang members have historically targeted children outside of the school gates – young people from both vulnerable and more affluent backgrounds are being increasingly groomed via social media channels, new research from the National Youth Agency (NYA) shows.
Safeguarding experts warn that changes triggered by the pandemic in how gangs operate pose an even greater challenge for police, social workers and youth workers to protect children and young people and requires a collective and creative response from agencies.
Social media
Experts have cited the use of social media as one of the biggest factors in grooming children to join gangs as, according to the NYA, “the unexpected nature of the connections made between people online can be more difficult to pre-empt and to safeguard against”.
Young people are groomed via apps including Snapchat and WhatsApp where messages which disappear quickly or are encrypted means “it is difficult to keep track and unexpected associations are being formed between young people, gangs and drug dealers both locally and across county lines”, the Between the Linesreport adds.
The report also highlights a trend of gangs using traditional social media platforms to groom children, as well as the use of lesser-known apps which police are unable to identify or decrypt, or that offer “secret chat” functions where one account can be used simultaneously across multiple devices.
According to Peter Wilson, a former police officer with experience in child criminal exploitation cases, who now delivers training on exploitation through private children’s social care provider Serenity Welfare, young boys and girls are targeted by gang members of the opposite sex as they are coerced into gangs.
“With girls we typically see them being given attention from men, telling them how pretty they are and boosting their confidence, whereas with boys, we are seeing more and more female gang members or girlfriends of gang members using sex, the promise of money and nice new clothes to attract them into the gang,” he explains.
“Once they are lured in, they are asked to do bigger and bigger jobs, until they are too far in and can’t get out.”
Emily Aklan, chief executive of Serenity Welfare, echoes this point adding: “A lot of them want to get out but they don’t know how to and what [gangs] do is isolate them from everyone around them – they make false allegations against parents so they go away, stop them from going to school, from talking to friends, key workers, anybody. They groom them into their ‘web’.”
Aklan also warns that between November 2020 and February 2021, Serenity Welfare saw an increase in payments to vulnerable young people through online payment site PayPal. She says: “They seem to be grooming and exploiting vulnerable children online through Snapchat and sending money on PayPal. A lot of young people, especially the ones we have in care, don’t have PayPal accounts so they’re asking family and friends and people they may know to go into their PayPal account and withdraw this money.”
In response, a Paypal spokesperson says: “PayPal has zero tolerance for the use of our secure payments platform to facilitate illegal activities. We make every effort to comply with laws and regulations around the world. Compliance with these laws is something we take very seriously. We carefully review questionable activities reported to us, and discontinue our relationship with account holders found to violate our policies.”
Aklan adds that anecdotal reports from staff and children Serenity works with only began in late 2020 with young people asking to use carers’ accounts to access money they claim is from someone they met years ago.
IN NUMBERS
- 2,000+ county lines gangs across the UK (Source: National Crime Agency)
- 102 county lines closed in September 2020 (Source: National County Lines Coordination Centre)
- 27,000 children at high risk of gang exploitation have not been identified by services (Source: children’s commissioner for England, February 2021)
- 2 million young people have vulnerabilities triggered by Covid-19 (Source: NYA)
Geographic changes
Figures from the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre show that in September 2020, police shut down 102 county lines gangs across England.
The NYA report also finds that the Covid-19 pandemic has seen an increase in localised activity and grooming in small towns as opposed to traditional “county lines” out of inner cities.
Dealers are using local young people as runners rather than young people from outside the area, while there is an increasing risk to young people from more affluent areas or supported family backgrounds, in county towns, who are less likely to be suspected by police, NYA chief executive Leigh Middleton warns.
“There has also been an increase in exploitation of young women who find it easier to move around during lockdown unchallenged,” adds Middleton.
Acklan says that targeting those from more affluent backgrounds leaves children with low self-esteem particularly at risk.
“They exploit the children that aren’t known to police and don’t stand out,” she adds.
“Most of them do come from middle-class families, ones that are vulnerable, that are not going to be noticed by the police.
“They’ve moved past [targeting children from deprived areas] a long time ago – and have moved on to small communities, rural locations where the county lines are and they are exploiting public school boys, young people that are from wealthier backgrounds.”
Changes in location
The NYA report cites evidence from the Metropolitan Police and the NSPCC that shows children are most at risk from exploitation between 3pm and 5pm on a school day. “Drug dealing has adapted to avoid public spaces and identification of young people and dealers involved, for example more through collection or delivery and altering dealing hours to blend with lockdown routines,” it states.
Yvette Stanley, Ofsted’s director of social care, also highlights the change in tactics used to exploit young people amid school closures.
She says: “From our thematic inspections and links with other agencies we know that gangs are dangerously adaptable. They exploit opportunities just as they exploit children. We have heard reports of gangs dressing children as delivery drivers to disguise criminal activity, for example.”
Acklan says that “things have dramatically changed” from the time when grooming would take place outside fast food outlets and school gates.
This is borne out by the Association of Directors of Children’s Services’ (ADCS) latest Safeguarding Pressures report, which states that last year there were fewer referrals from schools, which are traditionally one of the largest sources of referrals, due to closures, and an increase in those from the public and self-referrals.
Local authority data gathered by the Department for Education shows that during the first national lockdown referrals from schools decreased by 77 per cent compared with 2018 levels.
Solutions
As part of its recommendations to help protect young people from ever-evolving gang activity, the NYA is calling for a government strategy for youth workforce development, to recruit, train and deploy 10,000 qualified youth workers alongside targets for 20,000 police officers.
It is also urging ministers to create government guidance and a clear plan for detached, outreach and digitised youth work, with ring-fenced funding, in support of vulnerable young people in county towns and rural areas.
“Just as gangs adapt, so services need to,” explains Middleton. “Youth services can provide a safe space in local communities. Outreach and street-based youth workers know their area and are known and trusted by the young people in them.
“They are well placed to identify early and support young people at risk from county lines. Yet there is a distinct lack of adequate youth provision in many county towns and rural areas. There is little or no co-ordination between youth services across county borders.
“By investing in youth services, not only will we better know and support young people who are missing from the official statistics, we will stay one step ahead of the gangs by working locally to build community resilience and provide early help for young people.”
Aklan highlights the importance of one-to-one mentoring by peers with experience of the criminal justice system in supporting young people out of gangs.
“I think every young person today needs a mentor and we’re seeing that our mentoring works because we start off with six-week interventions: drama therapy, boxing, bereavement and self-esteem work – a lot of children and young people are groomed into gangs because they have zero self-esteem. We build up that self-esteem through our intervention workshops.”
Police response
Meanwhile, police chiefs say it has “never been more important for the police to build trust and confidence between young people and the police”.
Chief constable Jo Shiner, National Police Chief’s Council lead for the policing of children and young people, adds: “Policing must be able to identify and respond empathetically to those vulnerabilities. While some young people are nurtured into adulthood, others are struggling with past trauma, everyday poverty, and discrimination. It is essential for policing to work in partnership with schools and colleges, youth and family support services.”
Stanley also calls for improved partnership working, saying: “Lockdowns have provided the perfect environment for children to be groomed, with schools closed to most pupils and less face-to-face contact with families.”
With UK Youth research showing a 65 per cent increase in calls for support for youth services, Stanley highlights the need for a swift response to keep children of all backgrounds safe from gangs. “All agencies must work together to understand the changing risks to children and adapt quickly to address them,” she adds.
FIVE INNOVATIVE PROJECTS TO TACKLE GANGS THREAT
- A new Instagram channel, YourPolice.UK, has been piloted to engage with young people in partnership with Barnardo’s See. Hear. Respond project.
- Creating Opportunities Forum pilot supports young people at risk to access employment opportunities funded by a £3.5m Home Office grant.
- Redthread places youth workers in hospitals to engage with young victims of gang violence and has recently received part of a £130m Home Office grant
- The Children’s Society’s Disrupting Exploitation programme engages parents whose children may be at risk in London, Manchester and Birmingham.
- Serenity Welfare offers a training session with a former Met Police officer to schools, children’s services departments and youth work organisations.
