Child Abuse Investigative Command (CAIC)

Report: 12
Date: 5 June 2008
By: Assistant Commissioner Specialist Crime Directorate on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report updates the Child Abuse Investigation Command (CAIC) submission to the Metropolitan Police Authority of the 16 November 2006. It reviews the key equality and diversity issues in relation to community engagement, service delivery and employment. It also details the current situation around projects undertaken by the Command, particularly in the areas of sudden unexplained deaths of infants, female genital mutilation and the cross-border trafficking of children.

A. Recommendations

That members note this report.

B. Supporting information

Introduction

1. The Child Abuse Investigation Command comprises 17 Child Abuse Investigation Teams (CAITs). These support the boroughs and investigate crimes against children, where the offender has a degree of custody, care or control of the victim (known as intrafamilial abuse). Last year these teams investigated over 8,200 crimes that ranged from neglect to rape. In carrying out this work, officers from the CAITs work closely with Children’s Services to ensure that the best interest of the child victims remains paramount.

2. The CAIC has two dedicated Major Investigation Teams (MITs) who are responsible for investigating child homicides and suspicious child deaths that have occurred in an intra-familial context. These teams also undertake some more complex and protracted investigations that come within our remit, such as complex rapes and linked offences.

3. The Command also includes the Intelligence, Paedophile and Hi Tec Crime Units who carry out proactive intelligence led investigations in order to identify and prosecute predatory paedophiles and to disrupt their activities.

4. We operate across all the 32 London Boroughs and we support local police in dealing with instances of intrafamilial child abuse that may arise. We also provide the policy lead and tactical guidance relating to police protection issues. This directly supports Borough response and Safer Neighbourhood officers who may be called upon to take immediate action to protect vulnerable children in the course of their duty.

5. CAIC officers collaborate closely with partner agencies, charities and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in order to safeguard children across London’s diverse communities. These include the Local Safeguarding Children’s Boards (LSCBs), Specialist Advisory Group (SAG) and individual partnerships emanating from the Community Engagement Strategy. The partnership team, in conjunction with stakeholders continues to explore and identify issues of concern and to develop awareness and preventative strategies.

Key internal diversity issues

6. CAIC now comprises 411 posts for police officers (budgeted workforce target – BWT). However, under the Corporate Deployment Plan, we are required to hold a vacancy factor of 15 posts. This reduces our available total to 396. This means 33 fewer police officers since November 2006, a reduction of 8%. We also have 157 police staff posts that are all currently filled.

7. The command is different from others within the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) in that 45% of its police officers are women, as are 81% of its police staff. This is compared with 21% women officers and 58% women police staff across the entire MPS. CAIC also has 15.5% of its personnel working part-time compared to 4.25% across the MPS. 21% of our staff work flexibly. The main reason for part time and flexible working in this command is to assist with childcare.

8. The high proportion of women staff on our command means that we are subject to more abstractions than the rest of the Service due to maternity leave and part-time working. This compounds the effects of the vacancy factor mentioned above in paragraph 5. This gives rise to concern that such reductions may have a disproportionate impact on our operational effectiveness at a time when the implementation of the “Every Child Matters” programme will lead to increased activity by the Command.

9. Since 2006, we have seen an increase of black and minority ethnic (BME) police officers from 4% to 5.3%. We have 21% BME police staff compared to 25% in 2006. Our age profile is as follows subject to a degree of approximation.

11. With regards to disability, religion, belief/non belief and sexual orientation, the declaration of this information is not compulsory and the following figures are therefore submitted with caution.

• Disability: 4 members of staff have declared themselves as ‘disabled’
• Religion: 50% of the workforce have stated they hold a belief / religion
• Sexual orientation: This data is not readily available to the OCU. It is known that only a minority of staff are prepared to divulge this information.

12. The CAIC is committed to supporting any initiatives to increase voluntary self-declaration of the diversity strands where under reporting prevails. It is acknowledged that one of the main contributory factors is a perceived lack of confidence in the organisation’s ability to handle the data in a supportive and positive way. The CAIC is committed to building a workplace where all staff feel confidant and safe enough to disclose some of the most private aspects of their lives. We also recognise that an important part of building such a workplace is respecting the rights of individuals to keep their personal lives private if they so choose.

13. In March 2006, the management consultancy firm Price Waterhouse Coopers were commissioned by the Diversity Directorate to examine the operational impact of the CAIC gender profile. In keeping with their recommendations, the CAIC now employs two female job share detective inspectors who currently run an operational Child Abuse Investigation Team. This experience has been highly successful and both officers now act as advisors on flexible working and have held a number of seminars on this issue within the command. It should be noted here that our commitment to flexible and part time working acts as a positive incentive for potential recruits.

14. In 2006, the CAIC held a recruitment day focused specifically on BME staff. This was attended by representatives from all staff associations and was opened and supported by the Assistant Commissioner Specialist Crime Directorate, Stephen House. A further such event is planned for 2008 focusing on both police officers and police staff. More recently, a recruitment and publicity initiative took place at our headquarters building to coincide with the launch of the Every Child Matters Programme. An eye-catching poster entitled ‘Diverse Policing Requires Diverse Staff’ which invites BME staff to apply to the CAIC was produced and prominently displayed in various MPS premises. There are currently 21 BME police officers and 36 BME police staff members serving within CAIC. The command recognizes that this is proportionately low and is fully committed to increase this figure and will work with staff representative groups to actively encourage such recruitment in the future.

15. The CAIC remains fully committed to all six strands of the Diversity Excellence Model, (age, disability, gender, sexual orientation, race and belief). These remain ‘work in progress’ and are subject to continuous review. Our intranet site, accessible to all members of staff, contains specific diversity pages. These provide useful information relating to flexible working, childcare and faith issues as well as links to information and contacts relating to each diversity strand. There are now two women superintendents on the SMT who provide positive role models to our diverse staff. In support of the Diversity Action Plan, we have produced information leaflets relating to such issues as sudden unexplained death of infants and female genital mutilation in a number of community languages. We have implemented the Community Engagement Strategy and set up consultative links with community representatives.

16. Our commitment to diversity continues to be managed through the CAIC Diversity Action Plan that has recently been reviewed.

Resources

17. In 2007/2008 the CAIC received a budget allocation of £31,574K, the financial year concluded with an under spend of £1,901K. One of the key reasons for this is the Command having to operate below its established BWT by an average of 20 officers for most of the financial year. The police staff budget for the same period was under spent by £102K. In certain cases, agency staff have been employed to fill police staff vacancies where appropriate. The command headquarters was relocated from Cobalt Square (Vauxhall) to Empress State Building (Earls Court) in November 2007.

CAIC summary of activities (operations)

18. 2007 / 2008 saw the CAIC exceed its targets for sanctioned detection rates in all areas:

In addition, we achieved 158 disruptions of predatory paedophiles, 28 more than our target of 130. A disruption is achieved when the police succeed in thwarting the activity of an offender, but where no prosecution takes place in the Metropolitan Police Area. To consolidate and build on these results, we have set the following challenging targets for 2008 / 2009 that specifically focus on the most serious offences.

19. The Rape Investigation Improvement Group continues to meet monthly bringing together representatives from CAIC, Sapphire (MPS rape reduction project), Training and Forensic Services. The fact that detection rates have increased from 31% to 41% since our last submission is a testament to the group’s achievements.

20. Operation Advance (the Home Office initiative to develop cold case reviews of rape) was subject to a reduction in funding which has limited our ability to progress these matters. However having reviewed the potential for ‘cold case’ forensic reviews within this offending type, and the likely outcome, there would appear to be limited scope to identify new offenders as almost without exception they would already be known to their victims.

Projects

21. Project Indigo (sudden unexplained death in infancy) has been mainstreamed into the Command’s core business. Since the project commenced operationally on 1/4/05 over 300 SUDIs have been investigated. The methodology is recognised by the Association of Chief Police officers (ACPO) Child Death Sub-group as best practice and a strong partnership continues with Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and the Foundation for the Study of Infant Death (FSID). Analysis has been produced and as the data set increases, the findings are becoming more significant. The principal method of data collection has been reviewed and slight adjustments made to some of the data fields. Links with medical academics are being pursued to progress the messages around reducing risk factors to infants. These high risk factors are often associated with deprivation, smoking and other substance abuse and co-sleeping particularly on sofas. Child Death Review Panels are now a statutory responsibility for Local Safeguarding Children’s Boards (LSCBs) and Project Indigo has been at the forefront of devising workable systems for London. These panels and guidance are now in place across London but in their very early stages. Project Indigo continues to provide a high quality service to victims and families in extremely sensitive circumstances, balancing robust investigation with the sensitive handling of tragic circumstances.

22. Project Violet (child abuse related to certain beliefs) has now moved to a reactive phase. The project team continues to monitor crime reports and to provide specialist advice to all police forces. They maintain close contacts with the Congolese and Ethiopian communities and have a wide network of individual contacts across the capital. The command works closely with the NSPCC and the Churches’ Child Protection Advisory Service (CCPAS) to develop resources for West African Communities around these issues, such as multi-lingual posters and leaflets. Our involvement with the NSPCC also includes a working group to help implement guidelines that were issued by the DCFS (Department for Children Schools and Families) on children abused in the belief that they are spirit possessed.

23. A recent case study involves a seven year-old boy of Congolese heritage who had been diagnosed with an autistic spectrum disorder. His school received a letter from his father stating that he intended to take the child out of education for a two-week period. He wished to take his son to the Congo so that he could have ‘deliverance from evil spirits’ for his son. The local CAIT and Children’s Services became involved and the Partnership Team provided them with specialist advice. As a result, the child was prevented from leaving the UK and Children’s Services are now working closely with his family.

24. The Community Partnership Project 2 is now complete. The project team continues to remain in contact and supports the four remaining Community Partnership Advisors from the boroughs of Hackney, Camden, Islington and Haringey. We have provided resources and practical help in order to develop multi-lingual posters intended for members of minority communities to help them understand the laws relating to forced marriage, female genital mutilation and the chastisement of children. The project team has been heavily committed to the MPS implementation of the Every Child Matters (ECM) Programme. In partnership with the ECM Programme team, they have developed training that will be delivered to 38,000 MPS officers and staff. They have also developed training specifically for CAIC personnel, which is being delivered currently.

25. The initiative concerning child protection procedures in madrassahs has been extended to ‘supplementary schools’ (i.e. educational provision falling outside the current remit of the Department for Children Schools and Families DCFS) from all faiths and communities. The command is currently engaged with the DCSF in developing a programme to raise awareness of child protection legislation and good practice within all such establishments.

26. The CAIC continues to raise awareness of issues relating to FGM. We have conducted training events for police colleagues and for child protection partners. We have disseminated electronic training packages and educational DVDs. We have produced posters and leaflets targeting the most vulnerable in relevant community languages. We have launched a high profile awareness campaign, with the support of relevant community representatives. This was targeted to coincide with the start of the 2007 school summer holidays, a time identified when girls are most at risk of being taken out of the country for FGM to take place. It is planned to conduct a similar initiative in 2008.

27. We have not yet conducted a successful prosecution for a case of FGM but we are committed to achieving this in the future with the help of the £20,000 reward for information, which remains unclaimed. Nevertheless, it is hoped that through constant awareness raising and advertising this practice will diminish, although at present there are no figures available that would enable us to quantify success.

28. The practice of male circumcision is legal and well established within many long-standing communities in this country. It is recommended in certain circumstances by the World Health Organisation and its practice is widely accepted in society. Figures relating to the reporting of complications to the police are too low to be significant, although it is suspected that where difficulties may have arisen these are not always made known to the police. Should the medical community wish to campaign to regulate this practice, the CAIC would assist where possible. Existing data however, cannot justify a police lead in such a campaign.

Paladin team summary of activities

29. The Palladin team continues its work at Heathrow Airport and the Asylum Screening Unit in Croydon and is supported by staff from the United Kingdom Borders Agency (UKBA formerly the UK Immigration Service). Children’s Services do not yet provide staff to the unit but work in close partnership. In the last 12 months the following activities have taken place:

• Arrests: 25
• Children accommodated/Police protection: 168
• Criminal intelligence reports: 141
• Advice to Immigration/CAIT/SSD: 382

30. The Palladin team has successfully investigated and prosecuted two cases of significance. The first case involves a woman who is suspected of bringing a baby into this country from abroad in order to obtain more state benefits. A charge of ‘trafficking’ was not legally appropriate, but she was charged with facilitating the illegal entry of a child into the UK. The second case involved a young girl who had been unlawfully brought to this country to act as a domestic ‘servant’ before 2004. As she grew older, it became harder for her ‘employers’ to conceal her presence from the wider community and the police were informed. Those responsible have also been charged with facilitating the illegal entry of a child into the UK.

31. Officers from the CAIC are trained to communicate and interact with children who are the victims of crime. This is delivered through the nationally recognised Specialist Child Abuse Investigators Development Programme and the Achieving Best Evidence interviewing course. One of the core functions of this command is to deliver justice for child victims and to make the best interest of these children paramount. If in the course of an investigation we become aware that a victim is or has been involved in offending behaviour, this will be investigated separately but with full consideration given to the child’s vulnerability and welfare.

Update - child offenders

32. The CAIC has the lead in implementing the vulnerable children and young persons strand of the MPS Youth Strategy. Part of this project involves identifying occasions where vulnerable children involved in criminal behaviour may be doing so under coercion from adult offenders. It is already well established that so-called ‘child prostitutes’ are actually the victims of sexual abuse. It is suggested that such a change in attitudes could also be beneficial in other cases such as where pressure is brought to bear on children to act as drug runners or perform other ‘errands’ for serious criminals.

33. There is no specific training for CAIC officers to deal with young people who sexually harm other young people including those perpetrators who may have been sexually abused. Our officers however, are all trained to interact with children as outlined above and are aware of the complex issues that may arise within these investigations. Our officers all receive nationally accredited training to interview vulnerable children. This is delivered jointly with experienced staff from Childrens Services under the auspices of the policy of “Working Together”. It builds on best practice from both agencies and aims to achieve best evidence while balancing the emotional and welfare needs of the child.

Update - forced marriage

34. There have been no cases within the MPS district of girls reported missing from school where it was feared they might be involved in forced marriage. If such a case should occur it will be dealt with as a high priority vulnerable missing person enquiry by the local borough with the full support of the local CAIT

Abbreviations

ACPO

Association of Chief Police Officers

BME

Black and Minority Ethnic

BWT

Budgeted Workforce Target

CAIC

Child Abuse Investigation Command

CAIT

Child Abuse Investigation Team

CCPAS

Churches Child Protection Advisory Service

DCFS

Department for Children Schools and Families

DNA

Deoxyribonucleic Acid

DVD

Digital Versatile Disc

ECM

Every Child Matters Programme

FGM

Female Genital Mutilation

FSID

Foundation for Study Infant of Death

FSS

Forensic Science Service

GOSH

Great Ormond Street Hospital

IAG

Independent Advisory Group

LSCB

Local Safeguarding Children’s Board

MetHR

Metropolitan Police Human Resources (System)

MIT

Major Investigation Team

MPS

Metropolitan Police Service

NGO

Non Government Organisation

NSPCC

National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children

SAG

Specialist Advisory Group

SUDI

Sudden Unexplained Death in Infancy

UKBA

United Kingdom Borders Agency

C. Race and equality impact

1. The update report in its entirety deals with the issues of racial and equality impact in terms of the work undertaken by the Child Abuse Investigation Command.

2. The areas of child abuse investigation that impact upon certain communities are likely to attract the possible criticism of stigmatising certain cultures, traditions and faiths. However, the priority of an investigation will always be the welfare of the child and it is hoped that through our project work we will raise awareness and help to promote a safer environment for children.

3. We will continue to seek advice from community partners, the Safeguarding Children Specialist Advisory Group and all stakeholders around possible community impact to ensure that our investigations are conducted sensitively and with respect to all the people of London.

D. Financial implications

Not applicable to this report.

E. Background papers

• 2008 /2009 CAIC Business Plan
• CAIC’s Diversity Action Plan
• Flexible working and gender in the Child Abuse Command, March 2006 (Price Waterhouse Cooper)

F. Contact details

Report author(s): DCI Seb Florent and DI Martin Arnold

For more information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

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