Drug gangs ‘using social media to groom young people’
Neil Puffett
Monday, March 29, 2021
Criminal gangs are increasingly using social media to exploit young people into transporting or selling drugs for them, research has found.
A report by the National Youth Agency found that while policing has interrupted and closed down some “county lines” activity, gangs and dealers have changed the ways they work, with the impact of the covid pandemic resulting in the localisation of gang activities.
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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. There has also been an increase in exploitation of young women who find it easier to move around during lockdown unchallenged.
The report 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 remotely, or that offer “secret chat” functions where one account can be used simultaneously across multiple devices.
And it warns that support that young people at risk of exploitation receive remains “inconsistent and often insufficient”. While youth services re-opened in some areas from July 2020, many young people are now “off the radar”.
“Some targeted youth work has been maintained through the regional restrictions and national lockdown for the most vulnerable, but the patchwork provision of youth services has left young people vulnerable and prey to gangs,” the report states.
The NYA is calling for government guidance for violence reduction units with ringfenced funding for detached, outreach and digitised youth work in county towns and rural areas.
It also wants cross-boundary coordination between youth services, not simply a policing or social care response and for government to commit to a target of 10,000 qualified youth workers as part of a Youth Service Guarantee.
NYA chief executive Leigh Middleton said: “Just as gangs adapt, so services need to. Youth services can provide a safe space in local communities and trained youth workers. 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 coordination between youth services across county borders.
“By investing in youth services, not only will be 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.”