Policing and drug market-related violence: competitive, internal and enforcement-related violence in UK County Lines (2026)

Background: The link between drugs and violence has been widely studied across a range of academic disciplines, including criminology, sociology, psychology, and social policy. However, much of this scholarship has focused specifically on the United States, and the specific form of competitive violence between rival groups.
Objectives: This paper adds to the literature by focusing on County Lines drug markets in the United Kingdom (UK), which have been linked to increases in violence and the exploitation of young people and vulnerable adults for selling, storing or transporting illicit drugs. We utilise this case, as well as recent literature on harm reduction policing, to expand frameworks for thinking about drug market-related violence.
Methods: The analysis is based on the first national study of the policing of County Lines, which consisted of interviews with senior officers across 44 of the 45 territorial police forces in the UK, as well as additional interviews and observations in three case study areas with front-line officers, partner agencies and people with lived experiences (n=117).
Results: Our findings illustrate how the exploitation of young people and vulnerable adults could be conceptualised as an internal form of violence in County Lines in the UK. Furthermore, we highlight the need to acknowledge enforcement-related violence associated with the policing of drug markets.
Conclusions: Based on our empirical findings, we argue for a conceptual broadening of current understandings of drug market-related violence, as well as further developing harm reduction policing thinking and responses to effectively counteract all forms of violence associated with drug markets and their control. [Author's abstract]