Cuckooing

Cuckooing is where criminals exploit a vulnerable person or household by taking over the home, usually for the use or supply of drugs or other related criminal activity. Signs that a property may have been “cuckooed” include:

• An increase in visitors to the property, particularly at night/unsociable hours
• An increase in cars, motorbikes and bicycles parked outside the property
• The customer withdraws and cuts off contact 
• Damage to doors and windows, and a general deterioration in the external appearance of the property
• Communal doors being propped open and/or repeatedly damaged
• Unknown visitors frequently try to gain entry
• Curtains are constantly drawn
• An increase in rubbish and debris immediately outside the property. This may include drug paraphernalia. Drug use and drug dealing are often related to cuckooing.