The County Lines phenomenon has become one of the most significant drug market developments in the UK over recent years. This book analyses how it is being responded to by the police in affected provincial areas. Drawing on unique ethnographic fieldwork, it takes readers into police stations and out onto the streets with officers, providing timely insight into the policing of this high profile and challenging drug market context. The book considers the use of new police tactics that have been proposed and familiar methods that officers regularly embarked on. Through a sophisticated theoretical framework it argues that the policing of County Lines can often be considered ‘symbolic’, with concerns regularly placed on sending out strong messages that appear superficial when closely examined. Alongside this, however, there appears to be a progressive shift towards a more pragmatic drugs policing approach that embraces harm reduction principles.This cutting-edge research speaks to academics in Criminology and Policing, and to practitioners and policy makers.

“Bringing a wealth of detail and clarity to the study of this topic, Spicer invites the reader … . Spicer cultivates a rich insight into his own experiences of the ethnographic process, valuable to both those embarking on early experiences of fieldwork and those seeking to contextualize the book’s substantive insights. … Overall, the book makes a valuable contribution to the literature on county lines and policing. Spicer invites us to examine … with a pragmatic, critical eye.” (Hannah Marshall, The British Journal of Criminology, Vol. 62 (2), 2022)

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.