What happens when you report anti-social behaviour: cuckooing
What is cuckooing?
You may have heard the term ‘cuckooing’ – it’s the name used when criminal gangs or individuals take over a vulnerable person’s home. It’s often linked to county lines drug distribution – that’s where illegal drugs are transported from one area of the country to another. A victim of cuckooing might be an older person, someone with mental or physical health problems, or someone with an addiction – any one of these making them vulnerable to exploitation.
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If you suspect a neighbour is a cuckooing victim, please tell us
The home that’s been taken over may be used as a place to financially abuse the resident, to live there, to grow, deal, store or take drugs, to store weapons or to use for sex work.
Signs of cuckooing include:
- An increase in people coming and going
- More cars or bikes at the home
- Seeing less of the resident than usual
- An increase in antisocial behaviour
- Unknown individuals buzzing to access a building
- Signs of drug use
- Curtains or blinds always shut.
If you suspect a neighbour is a victim of cuckooing – or if someone is doing this to you – please contact us. We’re able to act quickly to check on a potential victim and involve the police.
As a relative or neighbour, the idea of reporting cuckooing can be frightening, given the situation is so close to home. Reporting can be done anonymously and if an impact statement is needed for a court case, it’s possible for you to pass information to a Housing Officer who can then be the official witness, removing you from being directly involved.
At the time of publication – and for the example below – there isn’t a specific criminal offence relating to cuckooing, police involvement is more about the criminal activity happening in the home, however that is due to change. The Crime and Policing Bill was introduced to the House of Commons in February. It includes a proposal that it will be an offence to exercise control over another person’s dwelling without their consent for the purpose of using it for particular criminal activities, including drug, sexual and weapons offences.
A real example
A customer living in a block of six flats called us to say that they thought their neighbour was a victim of cuckooing - identifying cuckooing often relies on someone living nearby who notices something isn’t right. They’d noticed several of the signs mentioned above and knew their neighbour was a vulnerable person. We contacted the police, who started monitoring the home, while we did a welfare check on the resident. Very quickly the police recognised a known drug dealer who had moved in and was using the home as a base to sell drugs.
We moved the customer, working with the local council to find them somewhere safe to live. The police carried out a closure – that means boarding up the property with no access to anyone, including bpha, for three months.
The aim is to stop people returning to the property – both the person who’s moved in and anyone attempting to buy drugs. Sadly, the dealer then moved onto a second victim in the block – however, the neighbours quickly reported this - the victim was supported in moving out, and a second closure took place.
People who had visited the block to buy or deal drugs had been gathering in the bin store. To discourage this, we’ve replaced the solid walls with wire fencing so that anyone inside the store can be easily seen from the outside.
Two new tenants are now living in the block – they’re aware of what happened previously and we’re working closely with them and their neighbours to ensure a safe and settled future.