Officers are generally good at dealing with very high-risk cases; however, forces are often not properly responding to allegations or concerns about suspects, a new report published on 5 April by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) found.

The HMICFRS report revealed examples of police taking up to 18 months to make an arrest after becoming aware children were at risk of abuse.

HMICFRS said that while offences were increasing at a rapid rate, forces were unable to keep up and chief constables are not doing enough to properly understand the scale of the problem.

The inspectorate concluded that much more needs to be done to ensure a consistent national approach – including tighter controls on the internet.

His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary Wendy Williams said: “Online child sexual abuse and exploitation are heinous and insidious crimes that can destroy the lives of victims and their families, and policing cannot afford to wait any longer to improve its response.

“We are in no doubt of the commitment and dedication of the overwhelming majority of frontline investigators. But they are being let down by the lack of a consistent and effective national approach to tackling this issue.

“There is a lack of minimum investigative standards or training, and this means some forces aren’t responding quickly or sufficiently to allegations of abuse. Forces do not fully understand the scale of the problem, so there aren’t enough resources dedicated to these investigations.

“The Online Safety Bill represents a critical opportunity to tackle the growing amount of child sexual abuse material available online. However, chief constables cannot wait for this to be in place. They need to do more now to understand the demand on their forces and the risks posed by offenders.”

Promising practice from Heddlu Dyfed-Powys Police

On the other hand, there are promising practices as well according to the report.

HMICFRS stated that Heddlu Dyfed-Powys Police force constitute a promising practice example since the force works with an analyst to further investigate its most concerning cases so it can pursue suspects and refer children to the NSPCC.

The report made 17 recommendations to chief constables, policing bodies and the Government, including:

introducing regional collaboration and oversight structures;

introducing proper guidance for officers and staff;

chief constables ensuring officers and staff are fully trained for their roles;

ensuring forces can obtain search warrants quickly when children are at risk; and

online safety legislation should require the relevant companies to develop and use tools and technologies to identify child sexual abuse material and stop it getting on the internet.

The report may be found here.

(Source: HMICFRS)