Met failing to effectively tackle child sexual exploitation, warns Police Inspectorate
The HMICFRS have said better training was needed while officers and staff of all ranks should be told to challenge victim-blaming language,
A watchdog has warned that the Metropolitan Police is failing to effectively tackle child sexual exploitation.
His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) raised serious concerns about the force's performance in this area, saying it lacked understanding of the "nature and scale of child exploitation" which was a "significant barrier" to being able to address the problem.
The Met apologised to the children and families it had let down in the wake of the report and stressed it was taking "significant steps" to improve.
In findings published on Thursday, the watchdog found the force's response to the criminal and sexual exploitation of children was "not currently effective" and not enough was being done to protect victims.
While HMICFRS inspectors found some evidence of good work, inspectors outlined a string of "serious concerns", including:
- Officers and staff using "victim-blaming language"
- Failure to identify exploitation or understand the links between missing children and exploitation
- A "frequently poor" response when children go missing regularly, with officers and staff "simply waiting for them to turn up"
- A lack of skills and knowledge among officers and staff, as well as experience among their superiors, in order to properly investigate
- Delays in launching and progressing investigations, with many "missed opportunities" to identify suspects and disrupt their activity, leaving children exposed to risk
Making 11 recommendations for improvement, the watchdog said the Met must start to follow all reasonable lines of enquiry to identify suspects in child exploitation cases as well as step up efforts with other public bodies to stop children from going missing and find them quicker.
Better training was needed while officers and staff of all ranks should be told to challenge victim-blaming language, HMICFRS said.
Inspector of Constabulary Lee Freeman said: "It is particularly concerning that the Metropolitan Police Service isn't doing enough when children are suffering from, or at risk of, exploitation.
"The force should make sure that it fully understands the risks to children, and that officers and staff are equipped to identify and tackle those risks effectively, so no child is left unprotected.
"The Met has already committed to increasing the number of officers in some teams dealing with child exploitation. For the benefit of London's children, the force should implement our recommendations in full and without delay."
Children's charity the NSPCC said the report "paints a very concerning picture of the Metropolitan Police's response to child sexual exploitation" and called on the force to bring in the "urgent and systemic changes" highlighted, adding that there also needed to be "national leadership to move the dial on how society responds to child sexual abuse".
Commander Kevin Southworth, who lead's the Met's work on public protection, said: "I'm deeply sorry to the children and families we have let down and want to reassure our communities that we are already taking significant steps to address these recommendations.
"We are putting more police resource into this area and retraining officers to have a better understanding of the complexities of child exploitation so we can continue our work to win back the trust of Londoners."