Police working alongside Wiltshire's pubs and hotels to fight drug gangs
It's part of a week of action against drug gangs and child criminal exploitation
Police in Wiltshire are clamping down on county lines drug gangs and child exploitation by working with pubs and hotels.
As part of the latest phase of Operation Scorpion, which is a joint effort by Forces in the South West to make the region hostile to groups supplying drugs, officers visited establishments where rooms could be booked.
During their visits to the businesses, officers learnt about the current processes the organisations have in place to identify potential issues as well as handing out information that could aid the training and awareness of staff and businesses.
PC Tom Newman says there are two significant issues the Police face in tackling county lines.
"First, there individuals, predominantly youths, being exploited in relation to drugs, either sort of taking drugs, using drugs, sort of running drugs, or dealing," he said. "A lot of the time they will operate out of hotels, they will try and pay in cash so there's no audit trail as to who they are.
"It means they can move around constantly and they're not tied to one location that is easier for us to target."
PC Newman explained that there is an aspect of child sexual exploitation too.
"We were speaking to staff and raising awareness of issues such as saying adult, coming in with a child, booking a room and requesting a double bed. Naturally that would set alarm bells off with most people and it was just making sure they have the confidence to pick out those things and, if they picked up on them, they know what to do."
When organisations do identify a potential problem, they're asked to contact the police and provide enough information that would allow them to act in order to safeguard vulnerable people and to punish offenders.
Tom said their work is generally well received by businesses across the county.
"Ultimately they are operating under a licence, they want to keep operating under a licence and they want to make sure that their customers that come in are safe, they enjoy themselves and they come back again.
"They are established places within the community and they are respected individuals as well so they want to maintain that reputation."
He described county lines as a "huge problem" but said it's positive that businesses are taking the issue seriously.
"It's very reassuring because there's always the assumption that it's just public bodies, police, ambulance service, fire teachers, NHS that are aware of all these safeguarding concerns. But actually it's nice to see that in the entertainment sector in which a significant number of individuals are going to have contact or involvement in either by work or just attending.
"It's nice to see that they are fully clued up, fully aware and actually that safeguarding goes across every aspect of our society."