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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Vikram Dodd Police and crime correspondent

Met officers dissuaded children from making sexual abuse claims, report finds

Sexual Abuse Lee Freeman HMIC Police Metropolitan Police
Two Met police officers.
The Met has been told to improve in three areas, helping to keep the force in special measures. Photograph: Tejas Sandhu/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock

Metropolitan police officers tried to put off children from making complaints about alleged sexual abuse and privately blamed young people for crimes suffered, a damning official report has revealed.

Most investigations into child exploitation were rated as inadequate by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC). Of the 244 cases it examined, 43 were graded as good, more than half (121) as inadequate and 80 as needing improvement.

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