Police Cadets team up with officers in Operation MakeSafe.

Following their Neighbourhood Police Week of action and alongside the nationwide #LookCloser campaign, Volunteer Police Cadets were at the centre of an operation last week, to help highlight the importance of spotting the signs of both Child Criminal Exploitation alongside Child Sexual Exploitation in the Hospitality sector.

This work was completed under Operation Makesafe, with cadets from all over the Humberside Area joining forces with Neighbourhood Police Officers, Special Constables and Cadet Leaders to visit over 60 venues in their local communities with the aim to create a safer environment for everyone. The teams conducted test purchases where they visited venues posing as customers to assess whether staff could recognise and appropriately respond to signs that a young person may be experiencing exploitation.

This joined up approached to tackling child exploitation, working directly with venues to improve their knowledge around the exploitation of young people has been recognised as good practice nationally, and has been adopted by the Hydrant Programme to support other police forces in protecting the most vulnerable in their communities.

Detective Sergeant Jen Rayworth said “I believe the work completed during this operation is invaluable for our communities, by highlighting the signs of exploitation we can educate local organisations in a safe environment before an incident occurs, which will lead to better care for at risk young people in our area. This operation is one of many planned across several business sectors. Together we can work to spot child exploitation early and intervene before further offences take place.”

Force Cadet Lead Katie Hardy stated “Having the Volunteer Police Cadets involved in operations like this helps them to understand the wider work we do in our communities and gives young people the opportunity to play an active role in making Humberside a safer place.”

All the venues who were visited as part of the operation will be provided with feedback and information on how they can work with Humberside Police to protect young people.

For more information on Op MakeSafe visit: Operation Makesafe

For more information on the #LookCloser Campaign visit: #LookCloser