County Lines/ Child Criminal Exploitation

Dean Coady OBE SRMC

Introduction and Training Products

If it is County Lines/Child Criminal Exploitation, Drug or general Crime and Consequence Training or Knife-crime awareness, for your staff, pupils and/or service users, then I am 100% your man! Please take a minute to have a look at the following introduction. 

My name is Dean Coady OBE. I am contacting you today to make you aware of the Safeguarding Work that I am currently delivering across the UK and to explore if you may be interested in further conversation regarding increasing the resilience of children and young adults to County Lines/Child Criminal Exploitation, Knife-crime and Street Crime and Consequences.

I also offer training to supporting Safeguarders (Staff), that have children and vulnerable adults in their charge, empowering them to support and guide pupils and/or service users.

Let me tell you a bit about myself and what I am currently involved in.

I was born in Salford and grew up in South Manchester. I am a former Parachute Regiment Soldier, served 10 years and later 26 years in Greater Manchester Police, 24 of which were as a Detective.

I retired in 2016 (for three weeks) then worked as an Investigator in America for 6 months before returning to the UK.

Every day of my police service was front-line and included postings in CID, Field Intelligence, Major Crime, Murder Squad, Specialist Operations, Counter Terrorism Branch and Gang Unit Moss Side, (to name but a few).

Before my retirement, I was one of the highest decorated cops in England, receiving numerous commendations and an OBE from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and to this day, I have continued to be involved in advising Law Enforcement, General and Specialist Safeguarding and Community based projects.

When I am not delivering Safeguarding Training in the UK, I deploy across Africa and South East Asia, training Bush Rangers and Scouts in Military and Police Operations, combatting Wildlife Crime and Poaching.

I also have experience in working closely with refugee communities both in UK and more recently on the Ukraine/Polish Border.

I am now self-employed as a Safeguarding trainer and Managing Director at my Limited Company Urban Pure Solutions.

Please have a look at my website urbanpuresolutions.com, for further detail.

I have been engaging with least-heard individuals, High-risk and vulnerable children and adults, mainstream groups, supported learning and other communities across the UK and abroad, all my working life and have been delivering bespoke Safeguarding training at Urban Pure, full time, for the last six years.

I specialise in youth engagement, Street-crime and consequences, Knife-crime, Gangs, CCE, County Lines/Child Criminal Exploitation and Radicalisation training as well as supporting safeguarders, police, teachers, youth and social workers, housing association staff, and similar that have young people or vulnerable adults in their charge.

Albeit not a new threat, County Lines/CCE has been mentioned in the latest Keeping Children Safe in Education and in the most recently released Serious Violence Strategy. This criminal ‘disease’ is very much in the news as potentially the most all-encompassing series of dangers facing our young children and vulnerable adults.

The National Crime Agency has previously stated that; “Organised Crime is a greater threat to our communities than Terrorism!” 

Street-Gangs and Serious Organised Crime Group’s County Lines and Criminal Exploitation activity encompasses high-harm-topics as varied as; drug dealing, criminal use of firearms, home invasion, threats to mental and physical health, sexual exploitation, modern day slavery and people trafficking, to name but a few. 

So, what is County Lines/CCE – sometimes referred to as Child Criminal Exploitation?

It is the name given to the trafficking and exploitation of young people and vulnerable adults within the UK, for criminal purposes. You may have seen mention of this over the last weeks in many newspapers, and the corresponding guidance to combat this has been prepared by the National Crime Agency and supported by the Home Office, Ending Youth and Gang Violence and Exploitation forum, of which I am a member.

This is very much on the Government’s radar and I have previously been invited to speak to a cross party group at the House of Commons, to tell them of my work concerning empowering children and vulnerable adults to make more informed decisions, as well as also increasing the knowledge of adult safeguarders. 

Let me give you this basic example. A parent/carer or safeguarder is contacted by the police and informed that, ‘Chrissie’, a 15-year-old boy/girl from ‘Bigtown’, currently in their charge, has been arrested in ‘Smalltown’ in possession of class ‘A’ drugs and £500 in cash. They were found in the home of a vulnerable adult with learning difficulties, called ‘David’. David had absolutely no connection to the young person. Chrissie has never been missing from home and this is the first time they both have been arrested. Initially this sounds like the young person is a minor drug dealer, maybe under the charge of the vulnerable adult David- however in this case, this is not correct!!! 

Chrissie had been groomed over a period by an established drug dealer from ‘Bigtown’, that has spread their dealing operations from the City, to ‘Smalltown’ (County). Less gangsters, more of an unchallenged marketplace. This same ‘Bigtown’ gangster had sent down a reconnaissance team or ‘scoping party’ consisting of lower-level street dealers to take over the existing drug market in ‘Smalltown’, These ‘street-soldiers’ quickly identified Dave the vulnerable adult and ‘cuckooed’ (home-invaded) his address, making it their drug-dealing den by force or coercion.

So, Chrissie and Dave, are better described as victims and not only should we be looking to prosecute the gangster/criminal for dealing, but also for potential modern-day slavery, exploitation and human trafficking!!!

This is obviously only a very basic example and there are other aspects of County Lines that you will discover when you read the 2021 NCA guidance as well as the Home Office Serious Violence Strategy 2018.

Often the drug-dealing may NOT be from ‘Urban to Rural’, but from one side of a city to another, from one end of a road to another – this is still drug dealing and human trafficking and exploitation, regardless of the distances that are actually covered! The majority of Police forces in the UK have reported County Lines activity going on in their area.

So where do I fit in? Since November 2016, I have delivered Prevent, Knife-crime, Gangs and County Lines training to over 97 000 children and supporting Safeguarders. Most recently I have worked with individuals and organisations that care for children and vulnerable adults, in Hampshire – Portsmouth, Southampton, Surrey, Oxford, Lichfield, Hull, London, Lancashire, Cumbria, Leeds, Wakefield, Nottingham, Manchester, Salford, Liverpool, Cheshire and Durham. (To be honest, I cannot remember all the places I have been!)

I have delivered robust, realistic and age-appropriate training at hundreds of Mainstream Schools, Private schools, Secondary Pupil Referral Units, Colleges, Supported Learning Facilities, Youth and Community Clubs, Children’s Homeless Accommodations – working with young learners, teachers and supporting staff.

I have also demonstrated and shared my training with the Home Office Ending Youth Violence and Exploitation Panel, several Police and Crime Commissioner Projects, again across the UK. I have lectured at Salford University on Modern Day Slavery CPD sessions, Manchester, Cheshire, Merseyside, Oxford and Hampshire LSCB, numerous Police Forces, delivered to Barnardo’s, Children’s Society, Manchester Youth Zone, Manchester Young Lives, Rio Ferdinand Charity, Manchester City in the Community, Active Communities Network, Catch22, CAPE, NWG, REACH, Care4Children, Foster Carers, Children and supporting staff, Mental Health Agencies, NHS, Schools Improvement Officers, Cheshire school’s Police officers, Manchester Youth Services, DSL’s and Deputy Head conferences and similar in Warrington, Rochdale, Manchester, Liverpool, Cheshire, Hampshire, Surrey etc. 

My Adult Safeguarding training is called; ‘County Lines and Street Crimes’ – County Lines Awareness for Safeguarders.                                  

(Duration: 3.5 hrs. Cost: £650 + VAT) Maximum of 60 learners. This training includes definitions of Gangs, Organised Crime, Insight into aspects that cause increased vulnerability, The National Referral Mechanism, Correlation between CL and Modern-Day Slavery and People Trafficking, also includes a supporting Safeguarder’s version of Street- Strong, Street – Safe, (see below) enhanced youth engagement and knife-crime input.

** I also have a version of this training, specifically designed for Housing Staff and supporting agencies – with enhanced Cuckooing/Home Invasion information.

 

My Young Learner’s training is called ‘Street-strong, Street-safe’. 

(Duration: 1hr. Cost: £250 + VAT) Suitable for learners 11 to 18 years. Maximum of 30 learners (or a usual class size) for mainstream children and 10 – 15 children for supported learners/PRU’s and similar.

This training consists of an introduction to what County Lines and Child Criminal Exploitation actually is and how it can affect young people. Using a series of highly-interactive and realistic scenarios, I engage, educate and empower learners to make more informed decisions about responding to some very real threats, risk and vulnerabilities concerning Criminal Exploitation and share some effective physical safety drills to extract them from dangerous situations. This input also includes an additional Knife-crime awareness mini-teach within the lesson.

Alternatively, I can deliver a 1hr stand-alone Knife Crime Awareness input, entitled K.N.I.F.E – (Killed, Nicked, Injured, Family ruined, Employment and Travel destroyed). (Duration: 1hr. Cost: £250 + VAT) Suitable for learners 11 to 18 years. Maximum of 30 individuals or a usual class size for mainstream children and 10 – 15 children for supported learners/PRU’s and similar.

‘The Fortis Project’ This resource has been specifically designed for young adults that attend HE/FE provisions. (Duration: 1hr. Cost: £250 + VAT) Suitable for learners 16 to 18 years. Maximum of 30 individuals (or a usual class size)

It is a highly interactive one-hour workshop, specifically designed to increase awareness, educate and challenge HE/FE learner’s understanding of the dangers of criminal exploitation. It also explores the consequences of becoming involved in travelling to other regions or away from ’home’ areas, in order to deal class A drugs or commit associated crime. (County Lines)

I have also designed and successfully delivered a parent/carer training session, entitled:‘Eyez-Wide’ (1.5 hrs £200 + VAT) No limit on number of attendees.

This training consists of an introduction to Gangs, Street Crime, Signs and symptoms of Gang involvement. It explores aspects of County Lines and Child Criminal Exploitation, Street Language and an overview of Knife Crime. I also offer a robust surgery at the end of the session to allow parents to ask further questions.

My latest training product is entitled; ‘We’re not rude, we’re R.U.D.E. I was recently contacted by a school that were having some challenges in relation to inappropriate remarks and unkind behaviour, that had been demonstrated by Key Stage 2 children. When reviewed, it became apparent that some of this was due to a lack of awareness of;

Respect, Understanding, Dangers (from the street) and Equality. (R.U.D.E) Maximum of 30 individuals or a usual class size for mainstream children and 10 – 15 children for supported learners/PRU’s and similar. This is a forty-minute, highly interactive lesson, designed for groups of Primary school children from year 5 and 6 whereby each aspect of R.U.D.E is discussed, in an age appropriate and sensitive manner. (£200+ VAT)

During the session, young learners are encouraged to speak honestly in relation to their knowledge of each of these subjects and I work with the class to share with them, what is acceptable and in keeping with community and school values.

This learning is complimented by me bringing in items that other children from around the world have made for me. Wood and stone carvings from Africa, pottery from South America, head-dresses and currency from all over the world, Army medals. This helps the children to understand that diversity that exists throughout the UK.

This content also very much reflects the Prevent Guidance of ‘British Values’ and could be viewed as an early Prevent training session, PHSE learning, Diversity and Equality introduction or Street-Crime awareness. Very much in line with Ofsted’s guidance.  It also provides a platform for young people to say what is actually causing them worry or fear on the streets.

Please note – I do not deliver lectures to assemblies or full year groups – I engage the children (and adults) in highly interactive, realistic and enjoyable workshops. Similarly, I do not deliver training via ‘Zoom’, ‘Teams’ or any on-line medium.

Dependant on the location of your venue, travel and accommodation- related expenses, may need to be added – however this would be discussed at the time of booking. I will always offer discounts for block or multiple bookings. 

I am also more than happy to come and deliver training at your place of work, school, college, place of meeting and/or worship and have experience with working with faith-based organisations across the UK. If required I can also work out-of-office hours and weekends.      

I cannot impress on you enough how reports of County Lines, (CCE) and Knife Crime has increased over the last few years. I am sure you will agree that County Lines criminal methodology is not new as Adults have been exploiting children for Criminal and Sexual purposes for quite a long time.

Albeit my training has been referred to as ‘challenging, robust and real’, the schools, colleges and other organisations that I work with, really seem to enjoy the content I deliver to them as it is based on real life. The feedback I have had is absolutely amazing!

This training does not just address aspects of County Lines drug-dealing, but also Gangs, Guns, Knife-crime, Drug abuse, CSE, True friendships, Coping with Peer Pressure and other negative influences and introduces learners to personal safety strategies to empower them to get out of some very tricky and dangerous situations. I also have access to reformed gang members and other similar high-calibre trainers, should you require a larger scale bespoke delivery plan

Due to the demand on Urban Pure, for this training, I have had to retire from my position as school governor at 17 Pupil Referral Units, however my work as a Governor has given me invaluable experience to share this learning with Senior Education and Safeguarders as well as other Governors and parents.

I appreciate that this is a lengthy introduction, but I hope it will allow you to ‘cut and paste’ what you need, should you need to complete your own report to request funding, authorisation, or similar. OR just to know what I and this training is all about!

Please also feel free to ask for details of previous recipients of this training, or local referees that you could contact should you require any more information as to the effectiveness of my workshops and do not hesitate to get back to me should you require further.

I hope this assists and I look forward to speaking with you in the very near future.

Keep safe.

Dean Coady OBE SRMC

deancoady@urbanpuresolutions.com

07885597690

 

Street-Strong Street-Safe – for young learners – including K.N.I.F.E – Knife crime awareness training.