Prelims

1. Introduction

1.1 The realities of drug markets

1.2 Policing County Lines

1.3 Policing drug markets: a research agenda

1.4 Book structure

2. County Lines

2.1 Conceptualising 'import' markets

2.2 What's in a name?

2.3 The phenomenon's (official) development

2.4 County Lines as 'chronocentrism'?

2.5 A product of saturation?

2.6 The structure of County Lines networks

2.7 The involvement of young people

2.8 Local harms

2.9 The advancement of cuckooing

2.10 Conclusion

3. Policing drug markets

3.1 Pyramids and mirrors: the organisation of drugs policing

3.1.1 Operationalising drug market policing

3.1.2 Sweeping up

3.1.3 Cracking down

3.2 Harmful, ineffective and symbolic?

3.2.1 The effectiveness of crackdowns

3.2.2 Symbolic policing

3.3 The case for change: applying harm reduction principles to the policing of drug markets

3.3.1 Shaping drug markets by addressing externalities

3.3.2 A realistic approach?

3.3.3 The way forward?

3.4 Conclusion

4. Navigating a 'newsy' field

4.1 Exploring the world of County Lines

4.2 Going backstage

4.3 Navigating my way through the field

4.4 Insider or outsider?

4.5 Ethical molehills

4.6 Conclusion

5. Policing a crisis?

5.1 Dealers 'out of place'

5.2 Dirty business

5.3 The threat to young people

5.4 Violence as instrumental or expressive?

5.5 Partnerships and control signals

5.6 'Another pair of eyes and ears'

5.7 Drug services as the difficult partner

5.8 Diverging from the norm?

5.9 Conclusion

6. New tactics

6.1 Put on hold: introducing the DDTRO

6.1.1 A blunt tool

6.1.2 The symbolism of the DDTRO

6.2 From pushers to enslavers

6.2.1 Practical barriers

6.2.2 The symbolism of Modern Slavery convictions

6.3 Conclusion

7. More of the same?

7.1 Time to crackdown

7.1.1 Crackdowns as weak signals of control

7.2 Days of action

7.2.1 Smoke gets in your eyes

7.2.2 Not so 'hot' spots

7.2.2 Welfare checks as double edged swords

7.3 Conclusion

8. Drug market priorities

8.1 Netting the 'top boys: variance and the case of the 'ideal' line

8.1.1 A time for discretion?

8.1.2 The value neutral problem

8.2 An organic shift to harm reduction policing

8.2.1 Prioritisation as harm reduction?

8.2.2 Mitigating the value neutral problem

8.2.3 External perceptions

8.2.4 Guiding crackdowns

8.3 Prioritisation in practice

8.3.1 Prioritisation in the fast paced world of County Lines

9. Conclusion

9.1 Impure market evolutions: the advancement of County Lines

9.2 The symbolic face of drug market policing

9.3 Organic shifts towards harm reduction policing

9.4 'We can't arrest our way out of this': some concluding thoughts

Jack Spicer is Lecturer in Criminology at UWE, Bristol, UK. His research interests include the functioning of illicit drug markets, drug law enforcement and drug policy. In 2019 he was awarded ¿Best Early Career Researcher¿ by the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy.