Information sharing between police forces ‘crucial’ to tackling child exploitation

The Tackling Organised Exploitation (TOEX) project is a government funded programme backed by the National Crime Agency designed to “remove boundaries within policing” which hinder information sharing.

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• Child Criminal Exploitation – Tackling Criminal Exploitation

South Yorkshire Police, one of the forces signed up to the project, said that while local policing operations that crackdown on county lines gangs may be successful they “may have done little to target or disrupt the organised criminality upstream”.

“This approach can create risk – the organised criminal needs a new supply of victims in order to continue to make a profit. 

“The TOEX model works to ensure that this does not happen – victims are safeguarded in a 'threat neutral' way which minimises further risk, the local operation is stopped, the organised criminality up the chain is disrupted, and the opportunity to simply move the exploitation elsewhere is interrupted,” a statement from South Yorkshire Police said.

Funding has also created barriers in protecting children from child criminal exploitation, Norfolk Police, which is also part of the project, added. 

“One of the traditional challenges has been the siloed application of funding – often to target emerging crisis or issues. While effective at short term solutions, this approach to funding removes the opportunity for longer term planning and development, and a key aim of the project is to move away from crisis funding, to a sustained and consistent investment,” the force said.

In January 2020, the Home Office commissioned the TOEX project and it is currently progressing as a result of government funding of £760,000 in 2019.

A further funding bid is in place as part of this year’s spending review, however, the government announced earlier this month that the review will cover just one year and be focussed on the Covid-19 response.

The project is led by the National Police Chief Council's (NPCC) lead for violence and public protection Simon Bailey. 

Bailey said: “There will be many challenges, such as information sharing, coordination of response, and all those boundaries which we have to transcend to stay ahead of the exploiter and safeguard the victims of today, and tomorrow. As professional practitioners, committed to a victim centred approach, we will continue to work together for the best possible outcomes.”