Group-based child sexual exploitation
Freedom of Information (FOI) Act request ref: 01/FOI/25/007552/S
Version Date: 14/04/2025
The Performance & Analysis Department and the Vulnerability Department have provided the following information.
I would like to request under the Freedom of Information act, information held by you on group-based child sexual exploitation.
In particular, I would like to know what definition, if any, you use to identify group-based child sexual exploitation.
Devon & Cornwall Police uses the definition adopted by policing nationally, set out by The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse’s definition of an ‘organised network’, in its 2022 Child sexual exploitation by organised networks investigation report:
“An organised network is characterised by two or more individuals (whether identified or not) who are known to (or associated with) one another and are known to be involved in or to facilitate the sexual exploitation of children. Being involved in the sexual exploitation of children includes introducing them to other individuals for the purpose of exploitation, trafficking a child for the purpose of sexual exploitation, taking payment for sexual activities with a child or allowing their property to be used for sexual activities with a child.”
Have you a dedicated team investigating group-based child sexual exploitation? If so, how many officers, by rank, are involved in this team?
We do not have a dedicated Group Based CSE investigation team. Where necessary to respond to an identified group, a dedicated investigation team can be established consisting of a Detective Insp as the Senior Investigating Officer, a Detective Sgt as the deputy SIO a DC officer in the case, disclosure officer support and an analyst.
If there is no dedicated team, how do you investigate allegations of group-based child sexual exploitation?
However, we do have:
- The Public Protection Unit comprising of officers specially trained in the investigation of child sexual abuse
- Additional officers specially trained in the interview of victims of sexual abuse - Sexual Offences Liaison Officer (SOLO)
- Investigators who have received specialist training to investigate sexual offences - Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
- A dedicated team of specialist investigators assigned to on-line CSE that incorporates responsibility for on-line group offending - Paedophile Online Investigation Team (POLIT).
I would like to know how many investigations into group-based child sexual exploitation you have carried out since 2000. I would like this figure broken down by year, if possible.
I would also like to know the number of suspects arrested as part of these investigations and the number subsequently charged. If possible I would like a breakdown of the age, sex and ethnicity of those arrested and charged.
I would also like to know the number of people convicted, again with a breakdown of the age, sex and ethnicity of those convicted.
Data Source:
Crime data from Niche
Data Processing:
Qliksense "Occurrence People Links (all)" report, filtered on:
Crime Only? "Yes";
CSE Related "Yes".
Chart Builder populated and data exported.
Procedure repeated but adding Arrest Linked "Y".
Second dataset matched into first.
Victim’s data removed and a count made of Suspect/Offender per Niche Ref.
If the count is 1, the data has been removed.
A further ref was removed because the 2nd Suspect/Offender had no Nominal ID.
Later processing removed duplicates on the Niche Ref to get the number of group-based offences which are recorded as CSE-related.
Qliksense "Detainee Management" report.
Arrest Data page exported. Data is shown from 01/04/2018 to present day.
Qlikview "UNIFI - Custody Data" report.
Arrest Date used. All data exported. This report contains arrests from 01/04/2012 to 14/11/2022.
Qliksense "Occurrence - People Links (all)" report, filtered on:
Occurrence Created Month Jan-2000 to Nov-2022;
CSE Related "Yes".
Chart Builder populated to get Niche and UNIFI crime refs.
The last export was used to convert the previous export's UNIFI crime references into Niche crime references.
Unique variables of Crime Ref and Nominal ID/Detainee URN were created in the main dataset and arrests matched in from the arrest datasets.
Outcomes of "Charged" and "Summonsed/postal requisition" used to get Charged data, where the person is an Offender.
The end dates were later restricted to only include up to crimed date 8 January 2025.
Data Limitations:
Conviction data is more reliably sourced from the courts.
Cancelled/transferred and restricted crimes are excluded.
Data includes Non-notifiables and Notifiable Reported Incidents.
The number of CSE-related offences with more than 1 Suspect or Offender recorded from 1st January 2000 to 8th January 2025
(Please Note: if a year is not shown there is no data)
|
|
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
Total |
|
Number of offences by year |
5 |
11 |
9 |
8 |
24 |
14 |
21 |
55 |
43 |
190 |
The number of people arrested for CSE-related offences with more than 1 Suspect or Offender recorded from 1st January 2000 to 8th January 2025, by Age at Time of Offence
|
Age at time of offence of person arrested |
Total arrests |
|
0-19 |
16 |
|
20-29 |
31 |
|
30-39 |
17 |
|
40-49 |
11 |
|
50-59 |
6 |
|
60-69 |
6 |
|
Total |
87 |
The number of people arrested for CSE-related offences with more than 1 Suspect or Offender recorded from 1st January 2000 to 8th January 2025, by Person Sex
|
Person Sex |
Total arrests |
|
Female |
8 |
|
Male |
79 |
|
Total |
87 |
The number of people arrested for CSE-related offences with more than 1 Suspect or Offender recorded from 1st January 2000 to 8th January 2025, by Person Self Ethnicity
|
Person Self Ethnicity |
Total arrests |
|
Any other |
1 |
|
Any other Asian background |
4 |
|
Any other white background |
1 |
|
Black African inc. Black British |
6 |
|
Black Caribbean inc. Black British |
1 |
|
Mixed White & Black Caribbean |
1 |
|
Not stated |
10 |
|
White British |
63 |
|
Total |
87 |
The number of people arrested for CSE-related offences with more than 1 Suspect or Offender recorded from 1st January 2000 to 8th January 2025, by Person Ethnicity (Officer perceived)
|
Person Ethnicity |
Total arrests |
|
Arabic or North African |
5 |
|
Asian |
3 |
|
Black |
7 |
|
Unknown |
4 |
|
White - North European |
67 |
|
White - South European |
1 |
|
Total |
87 |
The number of people arrested for CSE-related offences with more than 1 Suspect or Offender recorded from 1st January 2000 to 8th January 2025, who were Charged/Summonsed, by Age at Time of Offence
|
Age at time of offence of person arrested |
Total arrests |
|
0-19 |
1 |
|
20-29 |
2 |
|
30-39 |
3 |
|
40-49 |
1 |
|
50-59 |
1 |
|
Total |
8 |
The number of people arrested for CSE-related offences with more than 1 Suspect or Offender recorded from 1st January 2000 to 8th January 2025, who were Charged/Summonsed, by Person Sex
|
Person Sex |
Total arrests |
|
Male |
8 |
|
Total |
8 |
The number of people arrested for CSE-related offences with more than 1 Suspect or Offender recorded from 1st January 2000 to 8th January 2025, who were Charged/Summonsed, by Person Self Ethnicity
|
Person Self Ethnicity |
Total arrests |
|
Black Caribbean inc Black British |
1 |
|
Not stated |
1 |
|
White British |
6 |
|
Total |
8 |
The number of people arrested for CSE-related offences with more than 1 Suspect or Offender recorded from 1st January 2000 to 8th January 2025, who were Charged/Summonsed, by Person Ethnicity (Officer perceived)
|
Person Ethnicity |
Total arrests |
|
Arabic or North African |
1 |
|
Black |
1 |
|
White - North European |
6 |
|
Total |
8 |