Operation Make/Keepsafe
Operation Keep/Makesafe is a national project, looking to raise awareness of child sexual exploitation (CSE) within the hotel and leisure industry. The initiative focuses on law enforcement engaging with staff within these sectors so they’re aware of the early warning signs of child sexual exploitation and ensure businesses and organisations are empowered to tackle this offending through increased awareness and training by being able to identify potential victims of CSE, and where necessary, alert police officers to intervene to safeguard any children at risk.
The TOEX Response
The EMSOU TOEX team was asked to assist Derbyshire Police, utilising the Data Insights Analyst (DIA) to try and locate ‘hotspots’ of CSE offending in hotels around the county. As part of this, the DIA produced a list of keywords relating to CSE and wrote a query on a software application that can be used to report on statistics. This query searched the region’s crime recording software for all occurrences that fit the keyword criteria and allowed the DIA to identify where there were patterns of offending. As a result, the team were able to present the force with a list of hotels that appeared as locations where CSE had previously been reported.
Following this work, the team was asked to develop a similar package for Nottinghamshire Police. The DIA produced a short presentation and a Power Bi dashboard, which visualised the results from the query into charts, maps and lists that made it easier to see a bigger picture of the offending. This was then disseminated wider across the force for intelligence purposes.
Now, and as a result of this work, the national CSE Taskforce, which is led by the Hydrant Programme, is working with TOEX and the VKPP’s regional analysts to develop an intelligence product, which could be used by law enforcement to identify where there are concerns regarding CSE and work in partnership with the hotel and leisure industry to support staff to spot the signs of child sexual exploitation.