Programme Challenger
About Challenger
Challenger is Greater Manchester’s partnership response to serious and organised crime. It is made up of a variety of agencies that work together to disrupt and dismantle individuals and networks from committing serious crime in Greater Manchester, including running drug lines, exploiting people for financial gain, buying and using firearms, and laundering the money they make from their criminality.
Our vision is to enable individuals and communities to be free from the harm caused by serious and organised crime. Using the four key partnership objectives, we will:
Prevent: support early intervention and prevention activity to tackle organised crime at the earliest possible point
Protect: develop closer links with neighbourhoods and communities to develop an understanding of how it affects them, identify emerging issues and implement solutions
Prepare: reduce this criminality by mitigating and tackling the impact of when organised crime occurs
Pursue: be relentless and targeted in our pursuit against criminals through disruption and prosecution
Since its initial launch in 2014, Programme Challenger has grown significantly, with a dedicated County Lines team that covers the whole of Greater Manchester, a Modern Slavery team, and an Economic Crime Unit. These teams work collaboratively with Complex Safeguarding Hubs, and child criminal and sexual exploitation task forces. This is what they do:
The team executes warrants, pursues high-harm offenders, seizes drugs and weapons, and protects vulnerable people, ensuring they receive an effective safeguarding response.
They work with our communities to ensure people feel confident about identifying and reporting their concerns. Key to this is working with schools, youth centres, housing providers, and other local services to raise awareness among potential victims, enable them to identify when someone is trying to exploit them, and provide them with safe places to report their concerns.
In 2023, GMP’s County Lines* Taskforce 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, is 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 has 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).
How to spot the signs of child criminal exploitation
Making a report to GMP
You can report an incident or concerns about child criminal exploitation online at www.gmp.police.uk or by calling 101.
If you are worried that someone will find out you’ve given information, reports and concerns can be made anonymously via CrimeStoppers by calling 0800 555 111 or by visiting www.fearless.org.
Remember, if you or someone you know is in immediate danger, please call 999.
GMP supports ‘Eyes Open’ campaign
We are supporting the ‘Eyes Open’ campaign alongside the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit and other forces in the North West to raise awareness of child criminal exploitation and county lines.
The campaign aims to educate communities and protect vulnerable children to prevent them from falling victim to the criminal gangs who would exploit them. The assets are intended to help children become more aware of the tactics that organised crime gangs may use to coerce them into criminal activity.
Find out more here: https://www.gmp.police.uk/police-forces/greater-manchester-police/areas/greater-manchester-force-content/c/campaigns/2022/eyes-open/
The Modern Slavery Unit was launched as part of Challenger in 2015. It supports GMP and partners in identifying, investigating, charging, and convicting offenders while providing safeguarding to victims and survivors.
The unit has a specialist investigative team that supports complex modern slavery cases, in addition to an embedded Justice and Care Victim Navigator who works with partners to provide the highest level of care and support to survivors.
How to spot the signs of Modern Slavery
Support and information
If you’re involved in, or affected by, human trafficking or modern slavery, it’s never too late to get help.
If you are in danger or need any immediate help, always call the emergency services on 999.
Below are links to the help and support available, as well as the signs to look out for and how to make a report.
The Modern Slavery Helpline provides victims, the public, statutory agencies, and businesses access to information and support on a 24/7 basis.
Making a report to GMP
You can report an incident or concerns online at www.gmp.police.uk, or by calling 101.
If you are worried that someone will find out you’ve given information, reports and concerns can be made anonymously via CrimeStoppers by calling 0800 555 111, or by visiting www.fearless.org.
Remember, if you or someone you know is in immediate danger, please call 999.
The Organised Crime Coordination Unit provides a critical response to districts and local partnerships suffering from the impact of serious and organised crime.
It consists of detectives and police staff that work alongside partner agencies with the purpose of gathering information and intelligence and accurately mapping organised crime groups and their criminal activity.
The unit assesses the threat, risk, and harm of organised crime groups and individuals who are operating in our communities.
The unit also engages with local teams to share up-to-date information and ensure resources are made available to tackle emerging and existing threats.
Members of the unit are responsible for assessing the highest harm threats across Greater Manchester, including county lines, organised immigration crime, and counterfeit goods, including counterfeit pharmaceutical products.
Making a report to GMP
You can report an incident or concerns about organised crime online at www.gmp.police.uk or by calling 101.
If you are worried that someone will find out you’ve given information, reports and concerns can be made anonymously via CrimeStoppers by calling 0800 555 111, or by visiting www.fearless.org.
Remember, if you or someone you know is in immediate danger, please call 999.
As part of a process to reduce re-offending, help offenders rehabilitate, and dissuade those involved in organised crime, GMP is working with partners on The Lifetime Offender Management Programme.
This programme sees officers working in conjunction with partners in the Probation Service, the NW Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU) and the prison service to manage identified offenders over the course of their lifetime.
The programme seeks to identify individuals who are currently involved in organised crime or are subject to preventative orders linked to their historic involvement in organised crime.
The aim is to put plans in place to assist individuals in moving away from organised crime, to continually assess whether they are criminally active and what can be done to prevent criminality.
Offenders will be managed while they are in prison, and strategies will be implemented to help prevent their involvement in criminality.
The scheme is subject to ongoing scrutiny and allows continued assessment of the threat and risk posed by an individual, enabling GMP and partners to adapt our response and the level of offender management accordingly.
Challenger works closely with the GMP's Economic Crime Unit (ECU) to develop a robust response to tackling economic crime.
Specialist investigators tackle serious and organised crime by hitting offenders where it hurts most - taking away money and assets obtained through significant criminality.
The team works closely with Action Fraud, the National Economic Crime Victim Care Unit (NEVCVU), the banking sector, and third-party support agencies to provide advice and support to vulnerable victims of fraud, as well as those identified as potential future victims.
The CECAS and volunteers contact victims and hold community events to provide fraud prevention advice. They also signpost victims to relevant services and make referrals to Victim Support.
Making a report to GMP or Action Fraud
You can report an incident or concerns online at www.gmp.police.uk, or by calling 101.
If you are worried that someone will find out you’ve given information, reports and concerns can be made anonymously via CrimeStoppers by calling 0800 555 111 or by visiting www.fearless.org.
Remember, if you or someone you know is in immediate danger, please call 999.
You can also report fraud through Action Fraud online or by contacting the Action Fraud team on 0300 123 2040.
Alternatively, you can report suspicions of romance fraud anonymously to Scamalytics. Using an online form, you can enter images, names, and details of potential romance fraudsters. This not only keeps you and your loved ones safe from romance fraud but could also prevent others from falling victim.
Victim Support
You can contact Victim Support on 0845 30 30 900 or by visiting VictimSupport.