Challenging and challenges of police responses to cuckooing

杜鹃这个词是在过去十年里出现的，与学术文献和警察中的县界线并驾齐驱(斯派塞，2021；库姆和莫伊尔，2018；NCA，2017)。布谷鸟指的是易受伤害者的住所被另一个人以犯罪为目的侵占的过程，最常见的目的是毒品交易或储存，但也用于性工作、金融滥用或储存其他非法物品。该项目将侧重于扩大关于杜鹃活动的受害和定罪之间的重叠的知识，以及警方对这一活动的反应如何影响这一重叠。受害者的脆弱性可能以不同的方式出现--例如，由于药物依赖、参与性工作、学习困难、残疾或犯罪史。据传闻，执法和社会护理领域的专业人员报告说，让受害者参与调查和起诉有困难，往往是因为他们依赖剥削他们的人。这种抗拒可以被视为共谋，从而对成功的起诉造成障碍。对于一些受害者来说，一旦他们被鼓励参与犯罪，他们就会感到无法与当局接触，因为他们担心被定为刑事犯罪，失去住房和其他支持网络。支持弱势成年人的障碍可能导致最极端的结果，包括谋杀(康沃尔成人保护委员会，2007年；英国广播公司，2022)。致命案件突出了各种障碍，包括既往犯罪和吸毒成瘾、对支助框架缺乏了解、被认为是同谋以及当局未能有效地与残疾受害者沟通并向其提供支助(同上)。消除这些障碍对于防止更多此类悲惨情况是至关重要的，因为如果不能按照成人保障义务(《2014年照料法》第42条)对杜鹃叫现象进行充分调查或作出反应，可能会导致对地方当局采取法律行动，包括警察，因为他们未能保护生命权、不受不人道或有辱人格待遇的保护权(Mandelstam，2013)。现有的研究侧重于人们与受害者打交道的技巧，包括建立虚假的友谊和引诱，然后是更严重的威胁和胁迫形式，并主要集中在毒品市场(斯派塞，2021年，2020年；哈丁，2020年；英国政府，2020年；库姆伯和莫伊尔，2018年)。这项研究强调了杜鹃行为受害者和肇事者之间关系的复杂性，以及这给负责打击杜鹃行为的机构带来的挑战。

The term cuckooing has emerged in the last decade, alongside county lines in academic literature and policing (Spicer, 2021; Coomber and Moyle, 2018; NCA, 2017). Cuckooing describes the process by which the home of a vulnerable person is taken over by another person for the purposes of crime, most often for drug dealing or storage but also for sex work, financial abuse or storage of other illicit goods. This project will focus on expanding the knowledge on the overlaps between victimisation and criminalisation in relation to cuckooing and how this is impacted by the police response to this activity. The vulnerability of the victim can arise in different ways-for example, because of drug dependency, participation in sex work, learning difficulties, disability or criminal history. Professionals working in law enforcement and social care anecdotally report difficulties engaging victims in investigations and prosecutions, often because of their reliance on the person exploiting them. This resistance can be regarded as complicity and thus creates barriers to successful prosecution. For some victims, once they have been encouraged to take part in offending, they feel unable to approach authorities for fear of criminalisation, losing housing and other networks of support. The barriers to supporting vulnerable adults can result in the most extreme outcomes, including murder (Cornwall Adult Protection Committee, 2007; BBC, 2022). Fatal cases have highlighted barriers including previous criminality and drug dependency, a lack of understanding of support frameworks, perceived complicity and failures of authorities to effectively communicate with and support victims with disabilities(ibid). Addressing these barriers is essential to prevent further such tragic situations and because failure to adequately investigate or to respond to cuckooing, in line with adult safeguarding duties (s.42 Care Act 2014) can result in legal action against local authorities, including the police, for failure to protect the right to life, the right to protection from inhumane or degrading treatment (Mandelstam, 2013). Existing research has focused on the techniques by which people engage victims including forming fake friendships and enticements followed by more severe forms of threats and coercion, and has largely concentrated on drug markets (Spicer, 2021, 2020; Harding, 2020; HM Government,2020; Coomber and Moyle, 2018). This research has underlined the complexities of the relationships between victims and perpetrators of cuckooing and the challenges that this presents to agencies charged with countering cuckooing.