County Lines crimes for each borough from 2011 to 2021

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.028156

I note you seek access to the following information:

Redefined request:
Apologies for the lack of information, I seek to obtain information regarding the annual county lines crimes committed from 2011-2021, if this is too much to gather just the year 2011 is fine.

Additional request:
county lines crimes committed from 2011 onwards

Initial request:
County Lines crimes for each individual borough in London.

Decision

I have today decided to disclose some of the requested information. Some data has been withheld as it is exempt from disclosure and therefore this response serves as a Refusal Notice under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act).

However, in addition and irrespective of what other information may or may not be held in relation to this request, a partial NCND by virtue of s23(5) Information supplied by or concerning certain Security Bodies is required. Confirming or denying the existence of whether any other information is held would contravene the constrictions laid out within Section 23 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in that this stipulates a generic bar on disclosure of any information applied by, or concerning, certain Security Bodies.

This is because the duty in Section 1(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) does not apply, by virtue of the following exemptions:

Section 23(5) Information concerning security bodies

Please note this response should not be taken as an indication of whether or not further information is held, other than what the MPS have confirmed is held within this response for your questions.

Reason for decision

Confirming or denying whether any other information is held in relation, would potentially show individuals what the capacity, tactical abilities and capabilities of the MPS are. Disclosure under FOIA would allow individuals to target specific areas of the UK to conduct possible criminal/terrorist activities or activities that undermine the role of the police.

Please note this response should not be taken as an indication of whether or not information in relation to the covert use of facial recognition is held or not.

The majority of crimes fall within the Violence Against the Person (w/out injury) category which includes Modern Slavery, as per Home Office crime counting rules. Many of those reports are created by the VAPT following receipt of National Referral Mechanism (NRM) referrals of potential victims of trafficking. The NRMs are flagged as County Lines (CLs) and an assessment is made within the VAPT when the crime report is created.

Orochi, the MPS CLs Taskforce, undertake about 85% of the Met's Pursue activity against CLs. Their activity, such as arrests, charges, prosecutions and Drugs Trafficking CLs flagged crime reports, are not represented in this dataset. This is to ensure compliance with Home Office counting rules. The importer Force that has partnered with Orochi on the joint operation to target Drugs Supply emanating from London, routinely creates the crime report.

From 2019 onwards, significant effort and resource has been committed to tackling County Lines and this is reflected in the dataset. As awareness, understanding and Policing activity set across the breadth of the Met strategy (Purse, Prevent, Protect and Prepare), there has been an increase in reported crimes year on year.
The Met is committed to relentlessly tackle the national threat of County Lines & the associated violence and criminal exploitation.

Disclosure

Please find attached information pursuant to your request above.

Please consult the notes tab of the data spreadsheet provided for an explanation of the data.