Programme Challenger lead hails GMP’s approach to organised crime as one of the ‘best in the country’

Executing warrants. Locking up high harm offenders. Seizing drugs and weapons. Safeguarding vulnerable people. This is daily business for Greater Manchester Police’s (GMP) teams working to tackle organised crime – as you may have seen on this week’s latest BBC2 documentary series, The Detectives.

Programme Challenger delivers the collaborative approach to tackling serious and organised crime across Greater Manchester, preventing harm, and delivering a victim focused response. The overarching Challenger strategy, which was refreshed in May last year, highlights seven priority areas, such as County Lines and Modern Slavery, which the partnership all works together to combat.

GMP’s response under Programme Challenger is bigger than ever before, with a force wide dedicated County Lines team, Modern Slavery team, and Economic Crime Unit. These teams all work collaboratively with the twelve district Challenger teams, Complex Safeguarding Hubs, and Child Criminal and Sexual Exploitation taskforces.

This can only be delivered effectively due to the strong and established partnership with GMCA, local authorities, statutory safeguarding partners, health, education and many more, including third sector agencies.

GMP’s County Lines Taskforce recently celebrated one year at full strength, with most of the taskforce having landed in September 2022. The team, consisting of 25 detectives, police constables and civilian staff across a range of roles such as intelligence, digital forensics, research, operational support, and partnerships, are funded by the Home Office, as one of the UK’s four dedicated County Lines Taskforces.

By March 2023, the team had already closed 85 County Lines, exceeding the Home Office’s set target, and since then have closed a further 115 lines. (A County Line is the name given to drug dealing where a dedicated mobile phone line is used to arrange the supply of drugs from one area to another. This can be for local drug supply as well as across city and county boundaries and often involves the exploitation of children and vulnerable adults.)

As part of that specific team’s work, this year to date (2023), they have secured 194 arrests and 142 charges, with 27 offenders so far convicted, receiving collective sentences of 95 years in prison. During these investigations, over £300,000 in cash, over 20kg in drugs, 24 vehicles and 43 weapons including knives and firearms have been recovered and seized. Importantly, 72 children and vulnerable people have been referred to safeguarding services for specialist support.

Another of the specialist teams, based within the Serious and Organised Crime Division, is the Economic Crime Unit which features an expert team responsible for asset recovery, confiscation, and money laundering investigations. Their goal is not just to seize and confiscate cash found on warrants and persons, but to also forfeit funds from bank accounts and other assets.

In the last financial year (April 2022 – 2023), GMP have successfully recovered over £15 million in criminal finance, a large proportion of which has since been returned directly to victims or invested into community initiatives. Forfeiture doesn’t always rely on convictions and can be an incredibly effective tool for further disrupting or limiting organised crime activity.

Detective Superintendent Joe Harrop, the Force Lead for Serious and Organised Crime, talks here about the success of Challenger over the last year:

Speaking about what the team get up to daily, Detective Superintendent Harrop said, “Working in this area, investigations can be incredibly long and complex, as it takes a lot of intelligence collection, plus covert and overt work to get us to the stages where we can disrupt activity.

“Because police officers aren’t executing warrants and making arrests immediately doesn’t mean action isn’t being taken or the information we are given isn’t being used. In fact, the results across the Serious and Organised Crime portfolio speak for themselves. Arrests, charges, and convictions are up. Disruptions are up. Weapons, such as firearms, and Class A drug seizures are up. Asset recovery is up. And this continues to be built on each year.

“Approximately 80% of the County Lines team cases, for example, brought to the CPS don’t go to a Crown Court trial; suspects enter guilty pleas on their first appearance due to the overwhelming evidence presented. This shows the success of our methods and strength of the evidence; criminals have no possible line of defence.

“We are continually becoming more sophisticated in our investigation methods. Historically, drugs were run by criminals who were using burner phones, and this theme is still seen regularly. However now, with the continuous rise of social media, it’s very common for us to see people selling drugs online or using the platforms to recruit children and adults into working for them.”

As part of the key prevention work, Greater Manchester Combined Authority fund the hard-hitting play, ‘Crossing the Line’ by Breaking Barriers, going into schools across Greater Manchester to help young people be more aware of the signs of criminal exploitation, as well letting them know that support is available should they ever have concerns about a friend or themselves.

Challenger has also utilised funding from monies confiscated from criminality to fund a mentoring and investment programme called ‘We Move’. This works with established voluntary and community organisations to support young people aged 12-18 years old with skilled mentors. The programme focusses on the strengths and interests of young people, building their self-esteem, confidence, and passion for the positive things they value in their life.  Since going live, young people supported through the programme have accessed a wide range of activities from boxing to drama and there have been fantastic results in terms of impact, with many re-engaging in education and employment opportunities.

Det Supt Harrop continues, “Where prevention is sadly too late, this is where GMP’s Complex Safeguarding teams or the Modern Slavery Team will become involved.

“Our district Complex Safeguarding Hubs deal with the specialist support of the children we discover are being exploited, as they have the professional skills and network to best support children and vulnerable adults.

“There is also Catch22, who have the national portfolio for Victim Services funded by government when it comes to victims of county lines. Catch22 work with not only children but with victims up until they turn 25, providing them with the long-term wrap around care they might need.

“All of the safeguarding work done is rooted in supporting the vulnerable to break the cycle and not become repeat victims. What many victims of organised criminality don’t realise is that they have actually been exploited and are victims of Modern Slavery. That can be a scary thought and a term they don’t fully understand or associate with what has happened to them.

“The Modern Slavery Team has grown over the past couple of years with the support and funding of the Deputy Mayor. Because of this they have been able to successfully support higher numbers of victims with the likes of accessing safe accommodation or ‘go’ bags of essentials needed to escape their situation, as well as provide specialist support via the long-term partnership with the charity Justice and Care, who have a Victim Navigator attached to the team.

“The team also now have a focus on proactive investigations as well as supporting districts and partners with training of staff around the signs of exploitation. In only their first year they were endorsed by the Anti-Slavery Commissioner, Dame Sara Thornton, who hailed Greater Manchester’s response to Modern Slavery as best practice, which shows the difference the team are making.

“We are continually closing drug lines, removing dangerous individuals and substances from communities, and ensuring victims get the support and justice they deserve. We’re under no illusion of the scale of organised crime, but I want to provide the public with the reassurance that we have the resources, skills and teams dedicated to ensuring those within every part of chain are taken off the streets as quickly as possible.

“I truly believe GMP have one of the best organised crime responses in the UK.”

Kate Green, Deputy Mayor for Police, Crime, Fire and Criminal Justice, said: “This work represents the very best of partnership working to protect vulnerable people and bring down serious and organised crime gangs.

“This issue is not unique to Greater Manchester but what is different here is how we’re taking such a proactive partnership approach to dealing with this, with a clear focus on prevention from an early age. Forces from up and down the country are learning from our successful Challenger model and implementing it in their own areas.

“We are committed to disrupting this and bringing people to justice with the long jail sentences we’re securing, and I hope people are reassured by the dedicated team we have working on this and the clear results we are achieving.

“Together, with people educating themselves on the signs of exploitation, our work with young people on raising awareness of signs and support, alongside our dedicated teams with their tenacious disruption approach, we can bring down organised crime gangs.”

Spot the signs

Spotting the signs of cuckooing - a term used to describe the home of vulnerable adults being used as a base for dealing drugs:

• Not seeing the person who lives there, and a clear change in behaviour and routine
• Increase in visitors or cars to a house or flat at unsociable hours
• Signs of drug use such as strange smells coming from the property
• Windows covered or curtains closed all the time
• People talking on phones outside the address

Signs of child criminal exploitation:

• Unexplained gifts, money and new expensive clothes or accessories
• Increased missing from home episodes
• New friendship groups
• Receiving excessive calls or messages from ‘new friends’
• Carrying weapons and may have a few mobile phones
• Secretive or withdrawn from family and/or friends
• Getting picked up or dropped off by unknown people

It’s important that pre-conceived ideas of a ‘typical victim’ do not guide whether you believe someone is being exploited. Exploitation into County Lines or organised crime can happen to anyone, and is usually driven by who children become friends with, a desire to fit in or have nice things, not necessarily their background or other demographic factors.

How to report

Information can be reported anonymously via the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, by contacting GMP via 101 or emailing the county lines team. In an emergency, or if you are in danger, always dial 999.