The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) welcomes the publication of the Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland (CJI) report into Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE). 

Detective Chief Superintendent Zoe McKee says: 

“We acknowledge the findings and recommendations made by Criminal Justice Inspection and welcome the opportunity to further strengthen our service-wide response. 

“Children who are exploited are victims first. Children deserve the very best and as a Service, we are committed to ensuring that they are seen, heard and safeguarded — and that those who abuse and exploit them are held accountable. 

“Alongside the Department of Justice and other key partners, we are laser focused in tackling child criminal exploitation, an issue that requires a whole system approach. Significant work to tackle CCE is already underway. We have established enhanced governance arrangements, to drive delivery of shared objectives through a cross-departmental action plan, reporting through our established CCE Delivery Group led by senior leadership within Public Protection Branch. 

“The complexity in responding to this particular crime type lies in navigating the space between effective response to safeguarding, enforcement considerations and ensuring the best interest of the child at all times. We acknowledge we have more to do. This is wider than policing alone and our communities often have the insights needed to identify and protect those children most at risk and we will continue to  work in close partnership with them. 

“We have formally adopted the cross-departmental definition of Child Criminal Exploitation and are embedding it operationally across the Service. This includes: 

  • Development of enhanced data recording mechanisms to better identify and track cases; 
  • Amendments to prosecutorial documentation to clearly highlight exploitation factors and National Referral Mechanism considerations; 
  • Introduction of bespoke person flags to improve identification of children at risk; 
  • Accountability for the issue and reporting to the Northern Ireland Policing Board on our performance and progress in this area. 

“Training and awareness are also being strengthened. An organisation-wide eLearning package is under development, and CCE is being incorporated into foundation training, investigative development programmes and specialist child abuse training. Multi-agency simulated learning exercises are being updated to ensure frontline officers and partners can better recognise and respond to indicators of exploitation. 

“We are working closely with the Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland and academic partners including Queen's University Belfast to develop improved screening tools and analytical approaches. Through initiatives such as Twin Sight North, we are enhancing our ability to map networks and identify adults who groom and exploit children. 

“I also acknowledge the report’s observations regarding resourcing. Despite ongoing financial and workforce constraints, our specialist officers and staff in Public Protection Branch and across local policing continue to work hard to better protect some of the most vulnerable children in our society.”