New action plan to tackle child sex abuse
POLICE will investigate families if their drunk teens are picked up off the streets under a new action plan to tackle child sex abuse.
Local officers are on the look out for perpetrators who are sexually exploiting young girls and plying them with alcohol.
They say parents will be questioned and "families researched" as part of a massive new probe.
GPs are being urged to breach patient confidentiality and share details with child protection services if they think a young patient is being sexually exploited.
And police are training taxi drivers, bar staff and hotel owners to pick up on the signs.
Opponents say the scheme constitutes "mass surveillance on normal teen behaviour".
But Vince McLaughlin, Detective Chief Inspector for Police Scotland in Highland, said it could prevent a repeat of the horror case of child sexual exploitation in Rotherham.
He said: "If a child who’s under the influence of alcohol comes to the attention of the police clearly the primary focus is their safety and wellbeing and once that’s addressed we are obviously looking to find out where they have sourced that alcohol. We will make efforts from that child and their family to identify where they have sourced that alcohol. We will also carry out research into the family. We will share the details with our partners, particularly if there’s a history of identifiable risk. In every case we will share the concerns with the Named Person. Through that process there’s discussion between agencies about whether or not it should be escalated to Child Protection."
The families of youngsters who run away from home will undergo the same scrutiny, with police strongly suspecting sexual exploitation to be the underlying cause.
DCI McLaughlin added: "If we do not look for child sexual exploitation it will not necessarily be found and we consider it in before we rule it out, which is a very important position in terms of our own decision-making."
The Highland Council scheme is part of a Scottish Government plan drawn up in response to the systematic child sexual exploitation uncovered in Rotherham.
As many as 1,400 children were abused in the South Yorkshire town between 1997 and 2013.
Bill Alexander, Highland Council’s director of health and social care, said it could easily happen in Highland.
He said:
"Whether it’s a boy in a fast car enticing a young lady to get in or an older male or an older woman with money in their pockets who are able to take somebody out for a meal or even a fish and chips, young people can be enticed.
"But if they’re already feeling isolated and if they do not believe there’s love in their lives then they are all the more likely to get into that fast car or go along for that meal and go along with what follows afterwards."
But Maggie Mellon, former director of children’s services and external affairs at the national charity Children 1st, now an independent consultant and writer on family issues, believes the scheme is unjustified and breaches a young person’s right to privacy and anonymity.
"I’m not saying child sexual exploitation doesn’t happen in Scotland. But the actions and the proposed surveillance in respect to what could be normal teenage behaviour begs the question - is this proportionate to the actual number of incidents?
She was particularly concerned about GPs sharing patient details.
"It means a kid can’t even go to a doctor to talk in confidence," she said.
"And what about a child’s need for anonymity? Under this scheme, information about a vulnerable child will be in the hands of the doctor’s receptionist, the school receptionist, police, social workers, care workers, youth club workers. In small communities in the Highlands and Islands that might be a large proportion of the community. It’s mass surveillance".
The scheme is in place following the set up of a new specialist unit which will target the perpetrators of child abusee.
The team, which is based at Police HQ in Old Perth Road, Inverness, will also work alongside teams in Aberdeen and Livingston and will focus on cases similar to the recent historic sexual abuse allegations which centred in the last few years on Fort Augustus Abbey School.
Detective Inspector Jacqui Campbell, who will oversee the unit which forms the National Child Abuse Investigation Unit (NCAIU) in both Inverness and Aberdeen.
