Nowhere to hide for child abusers in Shropshire, says police chief
One of Shropshire's most senior police officers has said the force will use all of its resources to clamp down on criminals who commit sexual offences against children.
In an exclusive interview with the Shropshire Star, the man in charge of policing in Telford, warned there would be no hiding place for such individuals.
Superintendent Tom Harding also rejected criticism of the borough for having high rates of child sexual offences, saying high levels of reporting allow offices to do their job better.
Supt Harding said: "We will use all of our resources and technology available to prosecute anyone who sexually offends against children whether that offending took place yesterday or decades ago."
Supt Harding said analysis of the problem in Telford painted a very different picture to the image presented by far right groups.
He said the need to publish this data in more detail came about as a result of the increased commentary on the issue in Telford both locally and nationally, including the recent visit of the EDL, which said it targeted the borough specifically to highlight a problem with Muslim grooming gangs in the area – despite their being no evidence to support this claim.
Supt Harding pointed to analysis that showed 89 per cent of offenders in child sexual exploitation cases in Telford were white males.
His words come after Police and Crime Commissioner John Campion told a meeting of Telford & Wrekin Council there was no "burying heads in the sand" over the issue of child sexual exploitation.
At the meeting he revealed in the final quarter of 2015/16, Telford had the highest national rate of recorded child sexual exploitation, with 17.6 offences recorded per 10,000 of population.
But he added: "This statistic has often been quoted, but has rarely been scrutinised."
Analysis of the figures carried out by the police is at odds with the image of gangs grooming groups of young girls, which has been propagated since the Operation Chalice investigation.
In fact, in 37 per cent of Telford's child sexual exploitation cases, both the offender and the victim are under the age of 15 and in 54 per cent of cases, both parties are under the age of 18.
About 89 per cent of offenders are white males, 2 per cent are Asian males and 1 per cent are black males.
Mr Campion said: "Clearly my preference would be that we do not want this crime happening full-stop. However, if it is happening, we need the police to know about it in order to help victims and bring offenders to justice. In these terms, higher rates of recorded crime are actually a good thing."
Writing in the Shropshire Star today, Mr Campion said a significant number of steps had already been taken to tackle the issue. "These are all positive steps, but it does not mean the problem has gone away and certainly there is no complacency about that.
"A single case of children being exploited is one too many, so there is clearly more work to do.
"As Commissioner, I will ensure this progress is maintained and accelerated in 2017.
