Child exploitation can happen anywhere, says police chief

A police chief constable has warned that wherever children live, they are equally at risk of being groomed for sexual or criminal exploitation.

Chief Constable Catherine Roper, of Wiltshire Police, has asked the public to trust officers and come forward with any information – in recognition that intelligence sharing is key to finding child groomers.

She said the force hoped to increase police visibility in rural and urban areas in a bid to build stronger relationships, boost information-sharing and increase convictions.

The NSPCC says police forces recorded more than 7,000 online grooming crimes in total in 2023/24 – up by 89% since 2017/18.

Ms Roper, who is also the National Police Chiefs' Council lead for children and young people, said: "We need to accept that tragically children and young people are being groomed across all areas, urban and rural.

"We need the public to come forward and tell us when they are concerned."

She added that, as a direct result of community intelligence gathered during Operation Scorpion – a regional drugs operation – Wiltshire Police were able to identify vulnerable children, young people and adults and put in place safeguarding measures.

"Urban or rural, I ask our communities to trust us with the information and we will focus on keeping people safe," she said.

Ms Roper recently commissioned a review into allegations of child exploitation and child grooming made to Wiltshire Police over the past 10 years, to improve the force's responses.

Wiltshire Police has identified the following indicators that a young person may be being groomed:

• Are they being secretive about how they are spending their time?
• Do they have an older boyfriend or girlfriend?
• Do they have money or new things like clothes and mobile phones that they cannot or will not explain?
• Are they drinking or taking drugs?
• Are they spending more or less time than usual online or on their devices?
• Do they seem upset or withdrawn?
• Are they using sexual language you would not expect them to know?
• Are they spending more time away from home or going missing for periods of time?