Proyección de la Participación de Mercado

criminal justice system

The consultation with professionals and young people raised a number of factors relating to the criminal justice system that focus upon being part of a police operation into CSE, police responses to running away and CSE, and to the criminalisation of young people.

4.6.1

Young people’s experiences

of being part of a police

investigation into CSE

All of the young people who experienced being part of a police investigation addressing CSE described this as very stressful and difficult. Some young people were not prepared to speak to the police about their sexual exploitation because it was viewed as being too difficult to do so. Research practitioners who worked directly with young people also echoed how traumatic it can be for young people to testify against perpetrators of CSE and that the whole prosecution process, including the initial court process, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) response and giving evidence in court, needs to become

more child-centred and less stressful for young people.

4.6.2

Factors relating to the police

Having a police investigation addressing CSE in the local area

A number of research participants highlighted how having a police investigation into

CSE plays an important part in improving processes and responses to young people who run away and experience CSE. One benefit of having a police investigation has been to improve how agencies work together:

‘Before we had the police operation, some agencies worked really well together but some worked better than others. … Having a police operation has forced agencies to really pull together.’

One project started practice with young people who ran away and experienced CSE at a time when a police operation, which facilitated the project’s work, began:

‘We came in at a time when there was a real drive from local agencies to try and understand the issues a lot better and to do something about it.’

A local police investigation also improves relationships between the police and specialised projects which, in turn, results in the police improving their awareness of running away and CSE and benefits young people:

‘I can pop down to the police station and talk to their child protection officers and they can come to me and share their worries about children – and that wouldn’t have happened [before the police investigation]. … I’ve also been doing some sessions [to improve awareness about running away and CSE] with the police … and that wouldn’t have happened either last year. I think that’s a really good thing

and we’re working with the Neighbourhood teams as well as the Community Officers.’

Lack of appropriate responses from the police

Professionals and young people who participated in the research identified that police responses to running away and CSE can be inappropriate. Police responses can differ between police boroughs and individual police officers within one force. As an example of this, one professional described how the response of one officer was inappropriate and did not reflect overall practice of the local police force:

‘A young girl was taken to a place like a warehouse and all these men were sitting around drinking and she guessed what was probably going to happen and she started to cry. The car dropped her off and she went to the police. The person on the desk said “do you think we are a taxi service?”. The police could have carried out a raid and missed the opportunity. The information could have been turned into intelligence.’

Professionals who participated in the research also pointed to police responses to parents and carers when young people run away and experience CSE:

‘The police don’t always know what the thought processes are of parents. For example, we had a case where a young girl ran away for a week and then a uniformed policeman turned up on the door step and the parent immediately thought that her daughter was dead.’

Young people emphasised the need for an appropriate response from police offers when a young person discloses that they have been subjected to CSE:

‘Don’t be judgemental when you [police officers] first meet the young person like some police officers when they first met me. … [Some] would make a judgement straight away after meeting me.’

Responses from the police when young people are reported as missing

Many research participants described how there is a mixed response from the police when parents and carers report them as missing after a young person has run away:

‘It’s really varied [the response from the police] and some police officers are really great and know what CSE means, they know the risks and they will actually go out and look for the young people but some [police officers] just see it as a bother …“do you know how much money this costs … you [the parent] go and find the young person” and sometimes that’s really not appropriate for the parents to put themselves at risk and when there’s other children in the house as well. … If they [the police] are aware that sexual exploitation is involved and has been identified … if they’ve got a social worker involved and/ or a specialist worker for CSE and there are high or medium risk indicators then they [missing reports] need to be acted upon sooner and the response to parents needs to be improved because, in our experience, the parents really lose faith not only in the police but in other professionals because they’re receiving completely mixed messages.’

When parents and carers receive a negative or mixed message from the police after reporting a young person as missing this can be

confusing, as the police response can negate messages given by other professionals about the importance of reporting a young person who has run away as missing to the police:

‘Parents and carers of young people who are involved in CSE are being told by all professionals about the importance of reporting their child as missing but when they go to the police and they report their child as missing, they’re being told that they [the police] are not a taxi service, have you actually looked for the girl – they’re only two hours late. You know, they [parents and carers] could be at a child protection conference where someone says

“why didn’t you report your child [to the police] whilst she was missing?“ Well, I tried to do that but the police told me I was wasting their time”…. Parents can be seen to be not engaging or failing to protect their children when actually they’re not but they’re getting the wrong response [from the police].’

Experience reveals that the police do

not always respond in a positive manner when a young person from care is reported as missing:

‘I think there is a difference between the children and young people at home and those accommodated.’

‘I’ve got a young person who’s just had his 22nd missing episode this year who is looked after and I think there is an element of “oh no, not again”. If the name appears regularly there’s just an attitude that “oh well, they are a regular absconder”.’

Young people raised the need for the police to consider how they respond to

young people who run away and have been reported missing:

‘When you get reported missing, they [the police] need to think about what they say [to a young person] because they’ve never approached me in the right way. They’ll say stuff like “we’ve got better things to do; there could be murderers and robbers and stuff and we’re out looking for you”. Stuff like that and it’s like I’ve not asked to be reported missing and the situations like I said before [of being sexually exploited during incidences of running away]: how do they [the police] not know that something has happened?”

Young people described how the police should give more thought to why they run away and that being returned to the place they have run away from may not always be the best option for the young person:

‘It’s like they find me and take me back to the children’s home and I’d be like “I don’t

wanna go back to the children’s home; I just ran away from there”.’

Improving young people’ experiences when contributing to a police operation

Young people with experience of police operations into CSE outlined a number of ways in which the police could improve their response so that young people who run away and experience CSE have a more positive experience of being the focus of a police operation. Some young people felt that the police could do more to target the perpetrators of CSE:

‘They [the police] don’t take the cases [against perpetrators of CSE] as seriously as they should. … The police don’t do as much as they should.’

One young person described how the police did not take enough action against an older male that groomed and exploited him:

‘They never seized his phone or anything and he was grooming me for nine months and I never understood why they [the police] never arrested him. … He [the lead police officer on the young person’s case] was like “I’m too busy with other cases [against other perpetrators of CSE] you’ve given me” and I was like “that’s no excuse; he could still hurt somebody else [another child or young person]. Why aren’t you arresting him?”. I got into a massive fight with the police about that and they still didn’t do anything so they [the police] just need to take it [sexual exploitation] more seriously.’

The length of time it takes to build a case can be problematic for young people as can the knowledge that their perpetrator of CSE is out in the community:

‘’Cos obviously they [the police] have to come round and do reports and it takes like forever for everything to be processed. … It’s taking ages … and I find it really difficult when he’s [the main perpetrator] still out there.’

Young people described how the prosecution process was stressful for them and could impact upon running away. Young people also found it particularly difficult when perpetrators of CSE were out on bail:

‘It’s really difficult. … He [the perpetrator] is still out there and the police can’t do anything about it until it goes to court.’

Need for improved police training to increase awareness about running away and CSE

The majority of research participants identified the need for further statutory guidance for the police at the national level relating to perpetrators of CSE, along with accompanying resources. Because the police play such a crucial role in addressing running away and CSE, research participants stressed the need for a general improvement in police awareness of running away and CSE:

‘The police are really key in all of this because they’re the ones who get the reports when young people go missing and so it’s getting them trained up and it’s happening but slowly. … It’s about working with the police, training them, making them more aware around issues of sexual exploitation; sometimes they cannot really see the issue of sexual exploitation because they don’t have the knowledge, basically.’

Research participants recommended that all non-specialist police officers who carry out ‘safe and well checks’ should receive training addressing running away and CSE, so that they are more informed to recognise where CSE may feature in the running away, and be clear about the steps to follow when this is identified.

4.6.3

The criminalisation of young