The police response to group-based child sexual exploitation is
not good enough because forces don’t understand the scale of the
problem, and progress to improve is too slow, a new report has
found.
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue
Services (HMICFRS) noted that progress had been made in tackling
group-based child sexual exploitation, with some relatively
recent positive developments, such as the Child Sexual
Exploitation Taskforce. However, the inspectorate found that
progress, overall, had been too slow and identified the need for
forces to urgently make improvements.
HMICFRS said the problems included:
- a lack of a clear definition for group-based child sexual
exploitation. This means there is no common understanding of the
threat, and vulnerable children may not be safeguarded promptly
enough and instead left at risk of exploitation;
- unreliable data collection and a failure to prioritise
intelligence gathering, which means forces are unable to form an
accurate view of the issue; and
- the quality of criminal investigations is inconsistent, with
non-specialist investigating officers lacking the experience and
training to progress investigations promptly and effectively.
HMICFRS also found a number of examples of victim-blaming
language, with some senior officers failing to recognise this as
a cultural issue. This is unacceptable. The inspectorate said
that as well as resulting in important lines of enquiry being
overlooked, or dismissed, victim-blaming attitudes can lead to a
lack of safeguarding, leaving children unprotected.
The inspectorate has made nine recommendations and identified one
area for improvement which aim to help ensure children are better
protected in future.
His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary, Wendy Williams
said:
“Group-based child sexual exploitation has a devastating effect
on children and their families. It cannot be overstated how
complex and challenging these crimes can be to prevent and
investigate, and the police can’t tackle them alone.
“Over the years, the police and law enforcement bodies have
improved how they support victims and understand their needs.
However, the pace of change needs to increase, and this starts
with understanding the problem. We found that the police,
law enforcement bodies and the Government still didn’t have a
full understanding of the nature or scale of these crimes. This
needs to change, and these agencies must work together
effectively to protect children from harm and bring offenders to
justice.”
