Warning over shortage of child sexual abuse officers in London

A study by the London Assembly’s police and crime committee found that the number of alleged rapes and sexual assaults of children in the capital rose by more than a third (34 per cent) between 2009/10 and 2013/14 to 583 allegations of rape and 1,803 allegations of sexual assault.

However, the number of police officers dedicated to investigating sexual offences, including those against adults, as well as exploitation and child abuse, has not kept pace – rising 22 per cent during the same period to 966 officers.

The report calls for the Metropolitan Police to increase the number of officers assigned to the force’s Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command, to “ensure it is comprehensively staffed to meet immediate challenges and long-term demand”.

It also recommends that the Met works with partners to look at increasing multi-agency training, as well as appointing sufficiently senior officers who can direct resources to the capital’s multi-agency safeguarding hubs (MASH) and explore closer working between MASH in London and child abuse investigation teams.

Deputy chair of the London Assembly’s police and crime committee, Caroline Pidgeon, said the Met must have sufficient resources in place to ensure robust enquiries into allegations of child rape and sexual assault.

“Our investigation found many encouraging improvements in the way the Met approach their child safeguarding responsibilities and how they and many other agencies are working together to protect London’s children,” she said.

“Those improvements must not be put at risk by significantly increasing the workloads of officers who have to deal with difficult investigations into harrowing cases.”