Undercover police use teenage cadets to test London hotels in child sex stings

The operation is aimed at raising awareness of child sex offences among hotel staff, which has almost doubled in London over the past three years
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Justin Davenport8 October 2018
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Plain-clothes police are carrying out “sting” operations on London hotels to test if they raise the alarm over signs of child sexual exploitation.

Officers accompanied by young girls attempt to book rooms at hotels to check if staff recognise the warning signs of grooming and call police.

The move comes as figures show the number of child sexual exploitation (CSE) linked offences in London has almost doubled in the past three years, from 602 in 2014/15 to 1,107 in 2017/18.

The number of children who are assessed as being at possible risk of sexual exploitation has also risen by 40 per cent over the same period to 2,128 in 2017/18.

Now officers are visiting hotels with cadets, aged about 13 or 14, while carrying visible quantities of alcohol.

They may also try to book a room with cash and refuse to give any identification. Ideally, reception staff will refuse to rent out the room and contact police.

Chief Superintendent Helen Millichap said the operation, codenamed Makesafe, was aimed at raising awareness among hotel staff, rather than blaming venues.

She said: “We know that perpetrators of CSE may use hotels to commit offences. We know that CSE is likely to be under-reported, so we rely on people being alert and well-informed about some of the ways that children could be groomed.

“We would far rather someone alerted us and for it to be a false alarm, than for us to miss a chance to investigate.”

Ms Millichap, who leads the Met on CSE offences, said that in previous similar operations hotel staff had “not always” taken the correct action but some had reacted positively and, at least, refused a room to the couple.

She said: “We know that as a result of previous activity to raise awareness we have taken calls and we have been able to safeguard a child so we know it works.

“We believe this is under-reported but we are not saying that hotels are full of abuse.

“We want people to be professionally curious and if something does not look right, to call us.”

Police are carrying out visits at different hotels, ranging form large chains to smaller premises and B&Bs. Many have already received advice on spotting signs of CSE.

Ms Millichap added: “This is not an operation designed to catch people out or blame these venues.

“We want to encourage awareness in a powerful way. Where the response is not what we would expect it offers us the opportunity to provide refresher training and reiterate the warning signs.”

Earlier this year West Yorkshire police carried out a similar exercise and found that only one in 11 hotels raised the alarm.

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