Safeguarding: Child Criminal Exploitation and How Schools Can Support Victimised Children

This blog is based on Judicium’s Safeguarding ‘Sofa Session’ from the 2nd of March, with our resident experts James Simoniti and Hannah Glossop. This session focused what is Child Criminal Exploitation, how schools can spot the signs it and how schools can tackle it and support their pupils.

What is Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE)?

CCE stands for Child Criminal Exploitation. The NSPCC provide a very simple definition – ‘CCE is when a child is manipulated and coerced into committing crime’.

The crime could be anything – however, we will focus on when children are exploited to deal drugs on behalf of others, otherwise known as county lines.

The Difference Between Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) and Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE)

Although similar, with CSE, the child is the ‘commodity’. The exploiters will generally do what they can to protect their commodity, i.e., the child. With CCE the income the exploiters receive is the commodity, NOT the child. The child is merely an instrument of the business and therefore expendable. Exploiters fully expect to have to replace the child again and again and it is built into the CCE business model.

How CCE ties into modern slavery

When you think of slavery, you often think of someone who is locked away and being physically forced to do things that they don’t want to.

However, with CCE the child may appear to even ‘consent’ to the situation. NB: The child is being illegally exploited to provide a commercial gain for someone else.

So why do children sometimes appear to consent to this exploitation?

1. The brain of a child is not fully developed

2. They may receive some money from their exploitation and could see this as a form of ‘employment’.

3. Many children are coerced or forced to continue being exploited as they are gripped with fear and subjected to threats or violence

POLLS

County Lines 

County lines is when drugs are being moved from an urban source to a smaller town, e.g.  one common line that has been seen is from London to Southend.

The drugs transported are often heroin and cocaine, which are then sold using ‘lines’. Lines mean a phone line that will be given a name – such as ‘the Superman line’.

An example of how County Lines work

A gang in London imports heroin. They move this heroin from London to Bournemouth, using children on trains.

The children base themselves in various ‘cuckooed’ flats around the town - flats that are owned by vulnerable adults but are used by the gang as a base to move the drugs from.

Users in Bournemouth wanting to purchase heroin will call a phone number known as the ‘Superman line’ and go on to collect the drugs.

Rival lines will also operate. The ‘Batman Line’ may also move heroin from London to Bournemouth. Users may then start to call the ‘Batman Line’ to purchase heroin. The conflict over the territory in which the deals operate is where you will see the forms of violence most often associated with County Lines, i.e., children being stabbed.

Of course, this is not how every line works and some operate much more locally than the given example – but this is why you hear stories of children from one city being found in some far away town, unable to tell you how they got there.

Why Use Children? 

1. Cheap – They are paid next to nothing and will ‘work’ for extremely lengthy periods of time.

2. Disposable – The child is merely an ‘instrument of the business’. The exploiters fully expect to replace the child, whether they escape, go to prison or even get killed. And there are lots of children ready to take their place.

3. Easy to Recruit and Hook – Gangs can recruit and trap children in ways that they cannot with adults.

How do children get involved with and trapped by exploitation?

Children are recruited through organised means:

• Groomed over a period of time by an adult they trust, who will suddenly turn on them.

• Snapchat is a common way of recruiting young people. Exploiters will broadcast images of large amounts of cash, asking if anyone wants to earn significant money that night, cash in hand.

They will often be taken to cuckooed flats, or ‘bandos’ (abandoned houses), where they will have to prepare the drugs and then deliver them to users. They will have to stay here for a significant amount of time which will physically exhaust them.

Once they are in, it is very hard for the child to leave.  

Reasons they stay include:

• They are scared of the repercussions from the gang.

• They often believe they are more likely to suffer harm by telling someone, as opposed to keeping quiet!

• Debt bondage.

A quote from one Safeguarding Practice Review perfectly illustrates the dilemma a child trapped in CCE faces:

“There did not seem to be any way in which the Child could pass on information safely to me without exposing himself to greater risk from others”. - an Appropriate Adult who supported the child after he was arrested.

How Schools Can Spot the Signs of CCE:  

1. Missing episodes and attendance issues

•  Most CCE victims had an extensive history of missing episodes, meaning being reported as missing to the police by their parents or carers.

• These missing episodes were usually the times in which the child was being forced to run the drugs between locations.

• They may sometimes be reflected in low attendance at school, especially if the children are being forced to move drugs to a distant location.

•  If you hear a child has been reported missing, remember that they may have experienced significant trauma in this period and ensure they are well supported on their return to school.

2. Gifts and Money

• Children being exploited are likely to be given gifts, especially in the early stages of grooming. This is one of the ways in which they are tied into the exploitative relationship and a way in which the exploiter can control them.

• Look out for amounts of money. Children that have begun to be exploited into running drugs are likely to have some money and may well bring it into school to show off to their peers.

•  Listen out for conversations about pupils bringing in significant amounts of cash.

• The role of PE teachers can be important here. Is a child frequently wearing new trainers? Are they wearing expensive jewellery or watches? Look out for these signs in lessons.

3. Concerns around phone usage

• An exploiter is likely to control the child using their phone. They may even provide the child with a new phone solely for this purpose.

• CCE victims may possess multiple phones – usually, at least one of these is a ‘burner’ phone.

• They be using multiple SIM cards and physically swapping these around into the back of their phone.

• Unusual phone usage like this may be a sign that the child is being exploited.

4. Changing of peer groups

• A sudden change to a very different group of friends may be of concern.

• Alarm bells should also ring if you hear that a child is associating with elders outside of school.

• Question what is the reason is for this changing of friends?

5. Refusal to co-operate with professionals and defensive attitudes

• Defensive if asked about exploitation.

• Most will deny that it is happening, or when they do give hints about what is going on, imply that it is something completely consensual or even a form of employment.

• They may have been attacked and injured, but are unwilling to work with the police or support a police investigation.

• Keep in mind many children are unwilling to support police investigations due to a fear of ‘snitching’ so it does not always mean they are being exploited.

6. Tiredness

• Children may be up for over 20 hours being forced to run drugs.

• You may notice them falling asleep in class, or really struggling to concentrate.

How Schools Can Tackle Child Criminal Exploitation and Support their Pupils

1. Review PSHE and RSE curriculum - Make this relevant to children and talk about the importance of keeping themselves safe

•  For example, the Relationships Education by the end of primary should cover: “What sorts of boundaries are appropriate in friendships with peers and others (including in a digital context)”

• By the end of secondary school “Relationships and Sex Education should cover, “That some types of behaviour within relationships are criminal, including violent behaviour and coercive control”

2. Staff training - CCE is mentioned in Part One and Annex B of Keeping Children Safe in Education. Staff should have clear understanding of what CCE is, what the signs are and how to refer any concerns to the safeguarding team.

3. Clear attendance monitoring - How are staff encouraged to share any concerns?

4. Make referrals to appropriate agencies

5. Be aware of reachable moments - See these as a possible turning point for students

6. Consider alternatives to fixed term exclusion where possible when there are concerns about CCE

NSPCC: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/what-is-child-abuse/types-of-abuse/gangs-criminal-exploitation/

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