I am very pleased to recognise that the Metropolitan Police has introduced a ‘Child First’ Children Safety Strategy.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said:

“This is a major milestone in our mission to keep children in London safe from crime.“

The Children’s Strategy also commits to:

• Increasing the size of our child exploitation teams with an additional 72 officers across London;
• Integrating trained schools officers into Neighbourhood Ward teams; and
• Establishing a new Public Protection Referrals desk to identify children who are experiencing domestic abuse and help facilitate a multi-agency response.

Around 2 million children live in London and the policing challenges they present are wide ranging: from a 13 year old being exploited and forced to transport drugs to an 8 year old growing up amid domestic abuse, or a violent 17 year old with a knife. In 2023, there were approximately 61,000 child victims of crime and 51,000 children who were suspected of committing a crime.

See the full strategy document here.