INVESTIGATIONS into County Lines drug gangs are too disjointed, a police watchdog has warned.

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services said there needed to be a more integrated approach to how the drug networks were tackled.

Inspectors praised the setting up of the national County Lines coordination centre in 2018 and the effective use of modern slavery laws to prosecute gang leaders.

But the report raised concerns about poor crime mapping, competing priorities and limited use of telecommunication restriction orders banning prisoners from using phones and other devices that can be used to direct dealers on the ground.

Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary Phil Gormley said: “County lines offending is a pressing issue for law enforcement in the UK. It is a cross-border phenomenon involving criminals working across regions, to deal drugs and exploit vulnerable people.

“To tackle cross-border crime, there needs to be a cross-border response. Our inspection revealed that policing is currently too fragmented to best tackle county lines offending. Although we did see many excellent examples of collaboration, we concluded that the current approach does not allow for the level of coherence needed.”

Responding, Assistant Chief Constable Mark Cooper said: "While we acknowledge this report and its findings, we have been making great strides in our work to not only tackle county lines here in Wiltshire and Swindon, but in identifying those most vulnerable to this type of criminality.

"We are fully committed to dealing robustly with those involved in county lines and my aim is to make Wiltshire and Swindon a hostile and unsympathetic environment for those who are involved or assist in this type of serious and organised crime.”

He pointed to the arrest of more than 60 dealers last year in a Swindon-wide operation aimed at tackling County Lines dealing.

“The aim of these arrests was to not just to target the drug gang leaders, but also provide help for vulnerable people who often get caught up in drug dealing - protecting them and hopefully, through excellent partnership working, preventing them from falling back into this way of life,” he said.

“Through the introduction of partnership information sharing forms, we now have a far more effective approach in the sharing of vital information between partners and the police.”