Staffordshire Police needs 'urgent fundamental changes' to properly protect children
A watchdog has described Staffordshire Police's response to missing children as "confused and ineffective."
Inspectors made a series of recommendations including urgent fundamental changes so it can properly protect children
The report from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) said the force does not have the right procedures in place to find high-risk missing children.
"In some cases, the force takes far too long to recognise the risk and respond in the right way," it said.
Inspectors also found the force does not "clearly prioritise the safeguarding of children in all investigative activity".
The report described probes into sexting offences among children as "sometimes confused", saying that sometimes officers without the right training are tasked with the investigation and in these instances "little, if any, investigation takes place".
Officers throughout the force "do not always understand the importance of speaking to children, listening to them and recording their vulnerability", it added.
Inspector of constabulary Wendy Williams said: "Staffordshire Police urgently needs to make fundamental changes to improve many of its child protection arrangements and practices.
"We have made a series of recommendations which, if acted on, will help to improve outcomes for children in Staffordshire. We will be closely monitoring the force's progress."
The force had "some areas of effective practice in child protection" but "overall we found the force's child protection arrangements aren't consistently providing a good enough response to effectively safeguard children in Staffordshire", the report added.
The force's temporary assistant chief constable Jennifer Mattinson said: "We accept the findings of the inspectorate and are committed to making improvements at pace to ensure we are effectively safeguarding children.
"Work is very much under way to address the concerns raised and it has been for some time.
"Since the initial inspection, new and refreshed training has and will continue to be delivered to officers and staff, and we have reviewed processes and procedures around missing children."
It comes after the Express & Star revealed that the report found crimes were not investigated properly, putting public safety at risk.
It was found that investigations were ineffective and that call operators were failing to properly identify and assess victims’ vulnerability at first contact.
Chris Noble, the force's chief constable, said he expected to be personally held to account for the shortcomings and that efforts were well underway to make improvements to force operations including investing in more officers and re-organising local policing teams.
Mr Noble said: “I recognise and acknowledge the shortcomings identified by HMICFRS and the concerns raised with me about specific areas of our service.
"They are areas I am personally concerned about, and have been for some time, and I feel it is important I bring them to the public’s attention.
"The first concern relates to conducting effective investigations and ensuring that we aren’t just dealing with and investigating the reported crime, but also supporting victims and keeping them updated throughout the criminal justice process.
"The second is in respect of our handling of calls and requests for service from the public. In particular, the early investigative actions we take when the public first contact us to ensure we understand victims’ vulnerabilities and victims’ needs.
"Whilst progress has been made, I recognise the need to move quickly to address the issues driving these failings."
