Police receive more than 2,000 alerts on child sexual exploitation

Greater Manchester Police received 2,286 pieces of intelligence relating to child sexual exploitation in the ten months to January this year, almost one third of all the intelligence gathered was from the Rochdale Division, where there were 693 reports.

The figures also reveal that there were 105 reported crimes across the whole of Greater Manchester in the same 10 months with some link to child sexual exploitation involving 402 victims and 242 suspects. In Rochdale there were 37 such reported crimes with 47 victims and 49 suspects.

The thousands of alerts included tip offs from worried members of the public; observations of police officers on the streets; social services, schools and other agencies about suspected sexual exploitation.

Ann Coffey, who is conducting an inquiry into what more can be done to safeguard children from sexual exploitation, on behalf of Tony Lloyd, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Greater Manchester, released the figures today.

She said they showed that the public now had its “eyes and ears wide open”.

These are the first batch of intelligence figures since a new system of “flagging” potential child sexual exploitation victims and perpetrators was introduced by GMP on its Command and Control system about a year ago, following the Rochdale scandal.

Ms Coffey said: “The sheer volume of alerts is a sign that as a community we have all got our eyes and ears wide open and are prepared to fight back together against those who exploit our children and young people.

“It shows that the level of concern amongst people in Greater Manchester is high. However there is still a long way to go and many incidences will still be unreported.

“It is so important that all the community is involved in sharing information to try to prevent children from being groomed and coming to harm.

“By stopping sexual exploitation from happening in the first place, we prevent years and years of heartache for those involved.”

Tony Lloyd said: “These figures may shock us, but it is actually really positive that members of the public are willing to go to police. Police and other agencies have to take action where our young people are being sexually exploited. Every community across Greater Manchester has a vital role to play to ensure that those involved in the protection of our children have the information they need to keep young people safe.

“As Ann’s important work continues, it is becoming increasingly apparent that when police, councils, other agencies, community groups and – most importantly of all - local people work together we can build a powerful alliance against those who would seek to rob our young people of their childhood.”

Ms Coffey said the high figures for Rochdale seemed to reflect an even higher level of public awareness about child sexual exploitation in the town because of the high profile court case in May 2012, when nine men were jailed, and the subsequent work done by the police and other agencies to raise awareness in Rochdale since then.

Ms Coffey, who is the chairwoman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Runaway and Missing Children and Adults, is in the process of gathering information and holding numerous visits and meetings. She is examining ways of how to engage the community in the fight against sexual exploitation and how to heighten awareness of the issue.