DETECTIVE Inspector Karen Warner has spent two decades dealing with cases of rape, violence, domestic abuse, and now child sexual exploitation (CSE). She told DAN BEAN how North Yorkshire Police help victims and monitor offenders.

“CSE is a child giving sexual favours to a person or people in exchange for something. That something could be money, gifts or even love and affection. The major change over the last 20 years has been recognition and definition of that.”

Det Insp Warner is clear - CSE has existed for decades, only its name has changed, and awareness of it is higher now than ever before.

She said: “We used to use the terminology ‘child pornography’, but it’s absolutely farcical that a child can ever be complicit in that. I think naturally over time people have cottoned onto the dynamics of that situation, the abuse process, the grooming process.

“If you look over the last 12 to 18 months, all the publicity that’s surrounded CSE post-Savile - campaigns run by the council, training we’ve delivered to officers and others, that’s just one element. There’s been a lot of training with other agencies. Society’s gone from not really knowing much about it, to all of a sudden knowing an awful lot about CSE existing, and with that comes increased reporting.”

In 2015, there were 126 arrests in North Yorkshire for rape or sexual assault of children under the age of 17 - up from 97 in 2014, and 108 in 2013. The previous high was 138 in 2011.

Part of the problem, Det Insp Warner says, is that victims do not always see themselves as victims, and will not report the problem, so while statistics about sexual offences involving young people might increase, the figures could be higher still.

She said: “I would not have any qualms about saying the figures might be higher.

“If they don’t recognise they’re a victim, they don’t report. To teenagers, it’s a bit risky. You think you’re older than you really are, there might be alcohol which is all grown-up and nice, there might be cigarettes, and they may be giving you a lot of love and affection, so you actually think you’re in a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. So would you see yourself as a victim?”

Contrary to what a statistic might indicate, Det Insp Warner said the increase in the numbers of people signing the Sex Offenders’ Register - 79 in 2011, 86 in 2012, 100 in 2013, 89 in 2014 and 152 last year - was “absolutely” a good thing.

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Karen Warner of North Yorkshire Police

She said: “Do we have more victims than we had last year? Maybe, maybe not. Are we better at catching offenders? Hopefully, yes. Are we better if we can’t prosecute at getting a sexual harm or risk order, getting more people on the sex offenders’ list? Yes, and that can only ever be a good thing because it means we’re either being more successful at prosecuting offenders or putting measures on them that keep victims safe.

“That doesn’t necessarily correlate with the world being a worse place, because I think if you did national studies or surveys, they would say the world’s no more dangerous than it was 20 years ago. We’re just more aware of it and it’s reported more.”

Among the force’s arsenal are Child Abduction Warning Notifications (CAWNs), which are used to deter suspects from visiting certain addresses, or approaching young people.

Their use has increased in recent years - 28 were served in 2013, 36 in 2014, 83 last year, and 26 between January and April this year, and while Det Insp Warner said it was frustrating when a suspect and a suspected victim refuse to cooperate during interview, it did not mean the end of an investigation.

She said: “In all likelihood we would serve a CAWN on him. That would, in theory, keep him away from the teenager. Then - and it could be police, PCSO or social care agencies - we’d do some work with the victim. Prosecution wise, the figures wouldn’t be brilliant. But in stopping the risk to the victim and making perpetrator aware we know he’s a perpetrator and stopping that offending behaviour, it’s successful. The arrests and the charges won’t always marry up.”

The force is also working with councils, volunteer agencies, counselling services and victim support groups, even if that does not lead to conviction.

“Rather than saying ‘make a statement or don’t’, social care, police, other agencies will do a lot of work with that person before they even report it, and then they feel confident to report it,” said Det Insp Warner.

“It’s a whole wraparound care not just for the victim but for the family. If they feel more confident and empowered, they’ll work with the victim as well and that’s where we’ll start to get results because it’s not all about making a complaint and going to court.”

Det Insp Warner said while she and fellow officers were keen to see offenders charged and imprisoned, protecting the victim and future victims was most important.

She said: “If you can deal with a victim and not be moved by what’s happened to them, then for me personally, you’re not in the right job. I think what you learn to do is manage it. It’s pointless me breaking down in tears every time a victim tells me a horrible story and saying ‘there, there, I’m going to make it all better for you’, because I’m not, and I can’t, it’s as simple as that.

“What I can do is make sure it never happens to them again, and make sure help and support can be put in place.”

Det Insp Warner said while the care and support available to victims was “fantastic”, there were improvements that could be made if funding was not an object.

She said: “If I had a magic wand, I would love to set up for children and young people, a ‘one-stop shop’ - a house with all the medical help, safeguarding expertise you need, psychologists, counselling and support services on hand. You go to this place, and it takes you from start to finish through the process in terms of evidential gathering, working with you, and with someone there to support you afterwards.

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“At the moment, everybody does what they can and they’re fantastic, but you might to go York Hospital for a forensic examination. You may then have to go to the sexual health clinic for testing, and may then have to go back to the hospital for more work.

"Then, if you want, you’ll have a counselling worker, and you go to different places and see different people. Wouldn’t it be fantastic if we had one place where you could do that whole carousel?”

Part of the force’s work with local groups has seen bus and taxi drivers given information on how to spot and report CSE, which she said contributed to increased awareness and reporting.

She said: “Do I expect a taxi driver or bus driver to be an expert in CSE in two hours? Obviously, I don’t.

“But if I can give them two hours’ awareness and training in what CSE is, the definition, how it presents itself and baseline information, they might just think again about the two 14-year-olds in the back of the taxi who’ve just given them £50 to go to Preston and wait while they go to a party, for example. It’s a drip-feed process, and it’s about constantly raising awareness and educating everybody.”