When exploitation becomes local: county lines, policing and criminal exploitation in the UK

The term ‘county lines’ was coined in the United Kingdom to describe the transportation and distribution of drugs from large cities into non-urban areas and has been closely associated with violence and the coercion and exploitation of vulnerable people. While exploitation is recognised as a key feature of county lines policing and policy discourse, definitions have largely focused on the cross-border transportation of drugs across urban-rural supply routes. Research from the first national study of county lines indicates that exploitation occurs within and between local areas, rather than solely through urban-to-rural supply routes. This study employs a qualitative approach, including interview data from 44 UK police forces alongside in-depth qualitative fieldwork, to reveal how the diffuse nature of exploitation challenges the geographic focus implied by the term ‘county lines’. Widespread exploitation in drug markets raises questions about the utility of the ‘county lines’ label and calls for greater attention on the harms of criminal exploitation rather than the movement of drugs. This article utilises Public Health Criminology (PHC) as a conceptual and interpretive lens to examine how the police and safeguarding practitioners understand relationships between socioeconomic vulnerabilities, inequalities, reduced access to services and criminal exploitation in urban, rural and coastal contexts. The findings suggest that funding distribution models limit the capacity of smaller and non-urban police forces to identify and safeguard victims.