Improving police responses to victims of child sexual exploitation

Child sexual exploitation cases are challenging to investigate. Traumatised children are often unable to correctly identify abuse, while fear and shame can affect their responses. Retelling their story can also, in itself, be traumatising.

It is important for police to understand behaviours stemming from trauma and recognise the impact of their own interactions. This will create a safer and more professional space for victims to share their experiences.

Working in collaboration

The Centre for Child Protection (CCP) at the University of Kent worked in collaboration with Kent Police to develop and evaluate an interactive simulation. The simulation helps train police officers in trauma-informed approaches, aiding in the disruption of violence against women and girls.

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded project is led by Dr Tracee Green at the University of Kent. It brought together CCP’s expertise in child protection training through serious game technology and Kent Police’s operational experience to create the ‘hands-on’ training tool.

Based on real-life cases, the simulation enabled officers to practice applying trauma-informed approaches in the context of child sexual exploitation investigations in a variety of virtual scenarios.

Officers who received the training reported increased confidence and understanding of the impact of trauma, as well as recognition of the impact of their own interactions with victims during investigations. There was an increase in Kent Police’s recordings of trauma and a positive cultural change with a reduction in victim-blaming language in reports.

About the project

‘Serious game’ simulation training enables people to practice complicated skills and make mistakes they wouldn’t want to make in the real world. The immersive nature of following a realistic scenario also helps embed learning.

Funding was provided from ESRC’s ‘Partner with police to tackle violence against women and girls’ opportunity. With the funding, CCP and Kent Police co-created a simulation that trains police officers in using a trauma informed approach during investigations involving girls with lived experience of child sexual exploitation.

Dr Green, who led the project alongside Dr Aravinda Kosaraju and Emma Soutar from CCP, explains:

The collaboration brought together our research expertise on trauma, child sexual exploitation and using simulations for training child protection workers with the tactical knowledge of Kent Police. It enabled us to create a training tool that balanced theoretical knowledge with the realities and practicalities of on-the-ground police work.

Drawing on real-life case files

Drawing on access to real-life case files from Kent Police, the pilot simulation followed the story of two young girls who had been sexually exploited through different methods. Officers were guided to interactively move through the incident and investigation while trainers introduced topics such as childhood trauma, victim blaming language and how to adapt investigative approaches.

The CCP team and Kent Police collaborators delivered the training package to 77 detectives over nine sessions, followed by an evaluation survey. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive with 99% of participants rating the tool as helpful or very helpful, and 95% rating the training as relevant or highly relevant.

Impact of the project

Trauma-informed training is a growing area of interest and development for police forces. CCP’s simulation tool and training package provided a ‘hands-on’ experience in a safe environment that enabled police to gain confidence, practice skills, and develop their understanding of applying a trauma-informed approach. Improvements in police response and culture ultimately benefit vulnerable young victims of child sexual exploitation.

Improved policing

Police officers taking part in the pilot reported increased confidence in how to support girls with lived experience of child sexual exploitation with a trauma informed approach. The training provided greater insight into identifying child sexual exploitation and how to prepare and present cases to the Crown Prosecution Service.

It also led to an increase in overall recordings of trauma by Kent Police. The force is now considering making the training mandatory in their region. The programme has attracted interest for use on a national scale from national policing leads for child exploitation investigations.

Emma Banks, Detective Chief Superintendent, Kent Police, says:

For the officers trained within the pilot, the impact of the training increased confidence and understanding… in how they would respond to child sexual exploitation, appreciation of what it means to be trauma informed and recognition of the impact their interactions can have.

Creating a victim-centred approach

Kent Police highlighted a positive cultural impact from the training. It supported officers to be more ‘victim centred’ in their approach and, ultimately, benefiting the young girls in society who have been sexually exploited.

For example, there was a change in how reports were written, showing a greater understanding of the impact of trauma on girls. There was a 133% increase in the presence of the word ‘trauma’ in case recordings. There was also a reduction in victim-shaming language, such as alluding to children as ‘street smart’ or ‘deliberately going missing’.

A Kent Police officer who undertook training, says:

[It] helped me to have empathy and greater understanding of previous and current events to offer support to the child.

Capacity building for training simulations

The pilot demonstrated the potential of training large numbers of officers in a very complex area in a short amount of time, strengthening Kent Police’s capacity building for novel training technologies. Kent Police reported that the project provided ‘innovative solutions to many of the key issues of training large numbers of staff in what is a complex area of business’.