Taxi drivers trained to spot child sex abuse TAXI drivers have been trained to spot signs of child sexual exploitation.
The move came as part of a multi-agency effort in Glasgow to tackle the numbers of children at risk of abuse.
A council report nearly one year on from the setting up of a city-wide scheme to stop young people being exploited says training has taken place across Glasgow.
A spokesman for Glasgow City Council said: “We are working very closely with partners to address the challenge of child sexual exploitation in Glasgow.
“We are fully committed to learning from our experiences and using that knowledge to help us improve the systems that provide protection for vulnerable young people."
Glasgow Child Protection Committee (CPC) announced last year that it would set up a working group to tackle the issue of child exploitation in the city.
The decision followed a police operation that found 97 children and teenagers who were victims of or at risk of being sexually exploited.
Members of the working group were tasked with looking at: training and awareness raising; creating practical guidance; procedures; delivering services; and disrupting and prosecuting perpetrators.
At the end of last year, training was given to charities and this will be carried out again this year.
Police Scotland is in charge of carrying out awareness raising alongside Glasgow Life, Community Safety Glasgow, the city's licencing body, and members of the pub and nightclub trade.
They ensured staff working in Glasgow at Christmas period were aware of the issues around child sexual exploitation and how to spot signs.
Staff at the ice rink in George Square, community officers, taxi drivers, hotel workers and fast food staff were all trained.
The report, which goes before councillors at executive committee on Thursday, said this training will also be carried out again this year.
It also states that Vulnerable Young Persons procedures will be rewritten once the findings of police investigations are finalised.
Glasgow is one of four areas in Scotland working with charity Children 1st to develop a strategy of intervention for abused children - Stop to Listen.
The report reads: "The four pilot areas will develop Stop to Listen in different ways that reflect their locality and need and in Glasgow we wish to build on the positive inter agency links that have been established through the different CSE investigations within the City.
"Stop to Listen will work with young people 12 years and over."
In 2014 the Evening Times told how the Police Scotland National Child Abuse Investigation Unit was to be set up to tackle child sex abuse in Scotland.
It followed concerns about systematic and widespread child exploitation uncovered in the town of Rotherham, in England.
The taskforce builds on the work of Operation Dash, a multi-agency operation led by Police Scotland, which looks at the extent of child sexual exploitation in Greater Glasgow.
The council spokesman added: “There is a clear focus on child sexual exploitation within the city’s Child Protection Committee and information is routinely shared among the agencies represented on the committee.
“There is a very constructive relationship among all child protection partners in Glasgow that is helping to protect those at risk of child sexual exploitation and bring perpetrators to justice.”
source:
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/1444 ... loitation/
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