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Inspectors slam Met Police for 'inexcusable' child protection failures

Fundamental deficiencies in the way the Metropolitan Police (Met) understands and responds to child abuse and child sexual exploitation (CSE) are placing children in London at risk, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) has warned.

An inspection of the force's child protection work found that none of the force's borough teams or specialist teams assessed was doing a good enough job in protecting children. 

The report found that officers and staff do not properly understand the link between children who regularly go missing and sexual exploitation.

Even staff in important roles, such as borough CSE officers, were found to have limited awareness and had received no training in CSE.

It adds that examples of poor practice were found at every stage of a child's interaction with the police, across all geographical areas of the force.

Inspectors considered a total of 374 cases, of which 278 were found to require improvement or be inadequate. A total of 38 cases had to be referred back to the force, because they represented a continued risk to a child or children. 

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