Watchdog says police ‘still not focused on sex abuse’

Despite the offence being made a priority by South Yorkshire’s police and crime commissioner, who invested in extra detectives and training to tackle the problem in the county, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary said it had “serious concern” about the protection children receive.

It said the fact that child sexual exploitation was South Yorkshire Police’s top priority was “not reflected in operational activity” as many senior managers and intelligence teams were instead focusing on tackling rising rates of burglary and vehicle crime.

Between January and March all the force’s 1,700 frontline staff were given training in how to deal with child sexual exploitation.

HMIC said there had been an increase in the number of offenders prosecuted and that South Yorkshire Police was now working better with other agencies.

But it said the force’s efforts, including PCC Shaun Wright investing an extra £500,000 a year to pay for 10 detectives and other staff to track down and prosecute child abusers, had so far seen “mixed success”.

It said: “While there are pockets of good and effective practice, most noticeably, in Sheffield city, the approach taken to tackling this kind of offending varies significantly across the four districts.”

The report said staff working in safeguarding were “deeply committed to their roles”, adding: “They were conscientious, enthusiastic, and focused upon providing good outcomes for the children with whom they work.”

But it said teams in Doncaster and Barnsley were struggling with problems such as poor working conditions, leading to a rise in sick leave, lack of transport to go out on jobs, and workloads which left them “over-stretched”.

In Rotherham, a detective was transferred to the child sexual exploitation unit from the team which manages sex offenders, leaving his former colleague struggling to fill the gap.

Roger Baker, HM Inspector of Constabulary, said the PCC had made child sexual exploitation a force priority, but added: “We have concerns this is not properly being disseminated across local policing districts, and that as a result, children are not always being adequately protected.

“This situation must not be allowed to continue. It is unarguably of paramount importance that all children in South Yorkshire receive the same high levels of protection, regardless of the policing district in which they live.”

HMIC made several recommendations to improve performance, some of which must be carried out immediately. Its report is one of three reviews commissioned earlier this year by Shaun Wright into how child grooming offences were dealt with in South Yorkshire after a series of damaging sex abuse revelations.

The crime commissioner said the findings showed a “failure of management to turn my, and the public of South Yorkshire’s, key strategic priority into operational effectiveness uniformly across the whole force area.” He said: “Resources are continually being shifted around, pressures will always emerge but you have to never take your eye off the end game, which is the priority set by the police and crime commissioner.”

A police spokeswoman said: “A significant amount of work has been done in the last year to enhance our performance and do all we can to ensure our children are safe from this type of harm. But there is much more we need to do, as HMIC point out, and we absolutely acknowledge this.”

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