OVERVIEW
Child criminal exploitation (CCE) is a form of child abuse. It happens when a child or young person is coerced, manipulated, deceived or pressured into taking part in criminal activity, often for someone else’s gain. ‘County lines’ is the best-known model of this abuse: it describes the way organised groups use children and vulnerable people to move and sell drugs from one area to another, communicating through dedicated mobile phone ‘lines’. Children caught up in this are not offenders first and foremost — they are victims of a calculated and deliberate form of harm. Recognising this, and responding to it as safeguarding rather than simply as crime, is at the heart of keeping these children safe.
The course covers what county lines means, why CCE is child abuse, the links to modern slavery and serious violence, how grooming, coercion and debt bondage work, why apparent consent is never real consent, who may be more at risk, the online dimension, the warning signs in behaviour, appearance, money and social connections, and your duties to refer, record and share information — including the role of the National Referral Mechanism.
