Report highlights failings in child protection by police

Police forces need to improve failings in child protection, a watchdog's report has said.

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary examined forces across England and Wales, including North Wales Police and Dyfed-Powys Police.

HMIC said it found poor practice in more than a third of cases it looked at and anticipated this would apply to all police forces.

Gwent Police and South Wales Police were not inspected.

Dyfed-Powys Police was one of the forces inspected as part of a report called In Harm's Way which said: "There is, however, a continuing rise in referrals to the police of child protection cases (most notably in respect of some elements of child sexual exploitation, such as online grooming).

"Police forces are just beginning to tackle these kinds of offending while simultaneously trying to respond to the increasing numbers of non-recent cases of abuse, which are now being reported."

Dyfed-Powys Police welcomed the report and said protecting children and vulnerable people was an "absolute priority".

"The force will now review in detail the recommendations from these recent reports published and incorporate any areas for development into existing programmes of work," it said.

The report looked at cases going back two years, including online child exploitation and how police share and cross-check information.

Any pockets of excellent practice found were said to be the result of "dedicated and professional individuals and teams, rather than a united, understood and applied focus on protecting children at force level".

The report added: "On too many occasions HMIC found that investigations into child abuse or neglect were poor and plagued by delay and the response to reports of offences against children - ranging from online grooming to domestic abuse - was inadequate.

"Considerable resources are being spent on child protection processes that do not necessarily lead to help for a child, while core police duties - for example, to undertake enquiries and investigations - are not being pursued effectively."