Ex-cop's County Lines film to warn teens of drug danger

I Am You has been made by former police officer and award winning director John Evans in the style of a graphic novel or comic and will be shown as part of a major campaign in schools in Mid Wales.

He made the film for Colwyn Bay-based charity the Centre for Sign Sight Sound with a £10,000 grant from North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones, using money seized from criminals.

The fact-based story in three languages – English, Welsh and British Sign Language features two teenage girls from North Wales and is to go out to schools and youth organisations in Powys and across Wales ,with major interest also being shown by police forces in England.

The film will be used as part of a special lesson for Year 8 high school pupils.

The Tricked and Trapped campaign is a response to growing concern over the way youngsters are being criminally exploited by the ruthless County Lines gangs.

Children as young as 12 are being coerced into acting as drugs couriers with social media often being used to make the initial contact.

Mr Jones, a former police inspector in North Wales, said: “This is a really hard-hitting film that shows the dangers that young people face from the criminals that run county lines drug gangs, many of them active in North Wales.

“We need a clear focus on county lines – a particularly vicious form of criminality that exploits young vulnerable people into a life of crime which is extremely dangerous and violent.

“I Am You literally graphically shows how easy it can be to be sucked and coerced into this life but importantly it also offers a pathway out of what can seem a hopeless predicament.

“In North Wales our proximity to Merseyside and the North West make us particularly vulnerable to the gangs who run these criminal operations and I am also pleased that the excellent film is being picked up by all the Welsh police forces and that it is also attracting interest from across the border too.”