County Lines ‘an evil that permeates the whole of society’ says Wiltshire PCC
Operation Scorpion targets county lines drug gangs
Wiltshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner is calling for an ‘intelligence-rich’ picture to aid a regional campaign to disrupt county lines gangs.
The campaign, called Operation Scorpion, brings together all the forces across the South West to reduce the harm caused and the victims of illicit drug activity.
The illegal trade has been described as an ‘evil’ that permeates society by Philip Wilkinson but added that it can never be fully eliminated.
“It will always be there,” he said, adding: “What we have to do is reduce as much as we possibly can and reduce the harm and the number of victims that have been created.”
Mr Wilkinson says drug-taking is fuelling much of the other criminality in the county, such as knife crime and shoplifting.
He said: “You can see all of those individuals who are clearly victims of excessive use of illegal substances.”
The PCC added that the young people involved in the transport and cultivation of drugs such as cannabis are ‘modern day slaves’.
But the force has been having success in taking down cannabis farms, with Wiltshire Police topping the list for county lines disruptions in the UK.
The key, Mr Wilkinson says, is the intelligence gathered and given to the force by our communities.
“Local communities can be assured that we are going to make their lives so uncomfortable they no longer see the south west as a soft option for their criminality,” the PCC said.
He added: “The message is really simple: we are going to make the south west a hostile environment for all drug dealers.”