To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any police forces plan to increase the number of juvenile covert human intelligence sources to deal with county lines drugs conspiracies.
Answered on
27 February 2019
The small number of juveniles authorised as CHIS are a vital investigative tool for relevant public authorities to fulfil their statutory obligations, providing unique access to information important in preventing and prosecuting criminality such as gang violence and terrorism. The statutory framework for the deployment of juveniles as covert human intelligence sources is designed to ensure that they are deployed with great care and only in very limited and carefully managed circumstances.
The Home Office does not collect information on covert human intelligence sources in county line crimes as this is an operational matter.