September 24, 2019 - 2114 views
Today sees the inaugural ‘County Lines Needs Assessment Professional Development Conference’.
Held at Llandudno’s Venue Cymru, this UK pioneering event aims to deliver a strategic overview of the exploitation, vulnerability and serious violence associated with the local drugs market.
It is the belief of the Multi Agency Needs Assessment Group, that transparent data sharing will enable a regional understanding of what vulnerability, the criminal exploitation of children and adults, and the association of drugs, gangs and violence looks like across North Wales.
This will help the group to fully understand the demand and risk of violence related incidents, and create sustainable problem solving interventions, with a focus on prevention and early intervention, to meet the needs of each community as well as proactively working with those currently engaged in this business area.
After months of collaboration and discussions, today’s conference saw the group deliver their final co-produced report together with its recommendations, as well as offering a voice to some of the people in our communities who have been impacted by the county lines drugs market.
Amanda Hanson, Serious Violence Prevention Coordinator for North Wales Police said: “Today’s conference marks the culmination of a huge amount of cross agency research and discussion. County Lines affects all parts of our everyday life, and it is a problem which can only be solved by a multi-agency response.”
She continued: “The recommendations from our report aim to ensure that going forward, we can facilitate a more informed, and thereby more effective approach to the complicated threat that County Lines poses to our communities.”
The Multi Agency Needs Assessment Group is comprised of more than thirty partners including local authorities, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, North Wales Police, Welsh Assembly Government, and the Youth Justice Service, North West Regional Organised Crime Unit, HMPPS, third sector organisations and those involved in housing, care services, and substance misuse support.
