The International Centre: Researching Child Sexual Exploitation, Violence and Trafficking received funding from the KPMG Foundation and the NPCC Lead for Child Protection and Abuse Investigation to carry out research on models of policing in child sexual exploitation (CSE), and how they may contribute to improved detection, disruption and prosecution outcomes. The project began in November 2015 and was completed in October 2017.

The aim was to contribute to improved multi agency work with police to prevent Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE). The following objectives sat within this aim:

1. Create evidence based models of good practice promoting detection, disruption and prosecution of those who might, or who have, sexually exploited children.
2. Create a theory of change that examines the links between different models of policing and local problem profiling, local disruption techniques and rates of arrest and prosecution of alleged offenders.
3. Produce an evidence based ‘Prosecution Outcome Gaps analysis’ identifying lack of evidence in knowledge around effective offender identification, disruption and prosecution techniques in the field of CSE, with recommendations to services about how these gaps in knowledge may be filled.
4. Engage, where possible and appropriate, with young people who have worked with International Centre research and evaluation projects to gain a young person’s perspective on recommended models of police practice in multi-agency initiatives to prevent, disrupt and prosecute abusers.
5. Create time limited, outcome driven focus groups with lead police and local safeguarding board managers to consult on findings from objectives 1 to 4 above, linking this with consultation initiatives engaging leads in the development of the Centre of policing expertise.
6. Produce summary briefing papers disseminating findings across the 43 police forces, across all Local Safeguarding Children Boards in England and Wales and to children’s charities providing services to sexually exploited children

For further information on this project, contact Dr Debbie Allnock at debra.allnock@beds.ac.uk