OFFICERS involved in vital child protection work are among the most overworked in South Yorkshire, a report from the Police and Crime Commissioner has warned.<\/p>\n
Specialists in child sexual exploitation have a bigger caseload than any one else in the force, the report said.<\/p>\n
The report, published by Dr Alan Billings, warned that half of the child sex cases recorded relate to offending occurring more than a year prior to the incident, with many \u201ccommitted considerably earlier\u201d.<\/p>\n
Almost 900 reports of CSE have been made in the last year alone, according to the report.<\/p>\n
Dr Billings said: \u201cThe historic nature of many of the recorded child sexual exploitation crimes makes them extremely difficult to investigate.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that 894 reports of child sexual exploitation were made between April 2015 and March 2016 \u2013 an average of 75 per month.<\/p>\n
The force is currently investigating 183 child sex abuse cases, which averages out at more than nine per officer.<\/p>\n
The report added: \u201cMany of these offences relate to large-scale investigations. This has led to a considerable operational demand on CSE investigators.<\/p>\n
\u201cPublic protection officers currently have the highest caseload of any part of the force.\u201d<\/p>\n
The area recording the most offences was Rotherham, which also had the highest proportion of historical offences.<\/p>\n
The findings come less than three months after the Drew Report concluded the force had been \u201cseriously under-resourced\u201d in its early attempts to tackle CSE and its response to safeguarding those at risk had been \u201cinadequate\u201d \u2014 particularly in Rotherham.<\/p>\n
Dr Billings added: \u201cIn the past 12 months, South Yorkshire has received considerable scrutiny in the area of child sexual exploitation and has feedback from several sources.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the recent inspection by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary covering CSE noted that South Yorkshire Police had a \u201cvery good understanding\u201d of CSE.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Drew review recognises that the force has made progress in relation to many areas including raising awareness, safeguarding, investigating, training and online investigations,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n