The issues of County Lines and drug dealing “in broad daylight” were raised in Parliament this week after a Shropshire MP pressed the Government for action.
North Shropshire MP, Helen Morgan, challenged Home Office Minister, Sarah Jones MP, to set out the Government’s drug strategy to tackle rural crime and gangs targeting young people.
Speaking in the House of Commons, the MP said that residents in parts of North Shropshire had raised concerns about the scourge of drug dealing.
She added: “There is no doubt that my constituents are concerned by crimes such as equipment theft and wildlife crime, but they are also really worried about drug dealing taking place in broad daylight in parks, in our villages and in country lanes.”
Helen called on the Minister to lay out how the Government was tackling the problem and what was being done to protect young people.
She said: “Can the Minister tell us what the Government’s drug strategy is to stop our young people being targeted by organised criminals, and also to improve community policing in rural places so that those criminals do not have the confidence to target our young people so willingly?”
In response, Sarah Jones said that the North Shropshire MP was “absolutely right” to highlight the issue, and pointed to steps the Government had taken to target County Lines operations.
She said: “I have seen it in action for myself in Merseyside and the impact that it is having there, but she is right to highlight this very deep problem, which we are absolutely determined to tackle.”
The Minister added that the Government were introducing 3,000 extra community police officers by April, including a named officer that people could contact.
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