Mayor’s Police and Crime Plan consultation

Police officers and other community safety professionals work to keep people safe from crime. They also meet people who are at higher risk of coming to harm for other reasons – such as childhood or old age, during a time of mental illness or an untreated addiction. Similarly, they may encounter situations that can increase the risk to people’s wellbeing – such as a serious accident that may traumatise victims, witnesses and responders.

To help protect people from being exploited or harmed, the draft Police and Crime Plan focuses on ensuring:

• young people in the justice system are supported and safe
• fewer young people and adults are exploited or harmed
• Londoners are protected in public, in private and online.

The draft plan also sets out some of the ways this will be achieved, for example by:

• improving multi-agency working between organisations (such as police, government, charities and voluntary sector) to ensure victims of exploitation are safeguarded and families are supported
• supporting dedicated police teams aimed at tackling online child abuse and sexual exploitation
• working with the Metropolitan Police Service to ensure missing children and adults are located quickly, and to develop plans for their longer-term safety
• providing services for young people in care and those leaving care to reduce the risk of criminalisation or exploitation
• developing ‘trauma-informed’ services that recognise that many Londoners who come into contact with the criminal justice system – including offenders – may have also experienced victimisation and trauma.

• What more could be done to better protect those at risk of being exploited or harmed?
• What actions or interventions would have the most impact?
• How will we know that we’ve succeeded?

This discussion is co-moderated by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime.