Police launch urgent review of child cadet programmes 'being abused by officers for sexual purposes'

Fears programmes for children aged between 13 and 18 are being used by paedophiles to access children

Several police officers (not pictured) are already being investigated over cadet programmes in London and Manchester (Getty)

Police forces are launching an urgent review of volunteer cadet programmes amid fears they are being used by paedophiles to gain access to children.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is investigating several police officers who worked with cadet groups – which are for young people aged between 13 and 18 – in London and Manchester, and called for safeguarding checks across England and Wales.

A constable in Greater Manchester Police is alleged to have abused his position for sexual purpose in a cadet programme.

“The officer has been arrested and released on bail and more potential victims have been identified,” a spokesperson said.

The IOPC is also investigating a police sergeant regarding their actions in the same programme, and how they dealt with complaints against the PC.

In the same week, the watchdog was contacted by the Metropolitan Police over “potential failures by three officers involved in the running of a cadet programme in the London region”.

A volunteer cadet leader “may have abused his position for sexual gain”, the IOPC said, and officers are accused of failing to protect children following reports.

A separate misconduct investigation is examining claims that a Metropolitan Police officer abused his position for sexual purpose at a London-based cadet training camp. He is subject to a criminal investigation.

The IOPC has written to the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) asking it to pass on advice to the heads of 43 forces in England and Wales.

“We are sufficiently concerned by these two referrals to ask all police forces in England and Wales to urgently review their own volunteer police cadet programmes to ensure they have robust safeguarding procedures in place,” said IOPC deputy director-general Ian Todd.

“The programmes benefit thousands of young people and it’s not our intention to alarm them or their families.

“I must stress that the two investigations are unconnected and we have no information to indicate this may be a wider problem. However, some of the evidence emerging from these investigations indicates that there may have been opportunities to act sooner on the allegations that we are now investigating.”

Mr Todd said the public rightly expected the highest possible standards of child protection from police involved in programmes that engage with young and sometimes vulnerable teenagers.

“Anyone who is concerned about their own experience in the cadets, or that of someone they know, can contact us or their local police force,” he said. “All reports will be treated seriously and with discretion.”

It comes after a “committed paedophile” who joined the Cheshire Police to access children was convicted of raping a 13-year-old girl.

The NSPCC children’s charity said that the cadet investigations were very concerning.

“The IOPC is right to take this seriously and to urgently review safeguarding in these programmes across England and Wales,” public affairs manager Andrew Fellowes said.

“That needs to conclude swiftly, and if other cases are identified then police authorities must set out publicly the steps being taken to ensure that it cannot happen again.”

The NSPCC is calling on the government to extend “position of trust” laws to roles such as cadet leaders and sports coaches to protect young people from being targeted for abuse.

Chief constable Shaun Sawyer, the NPCC lead for police cadets, has written to all police chiefs in England and Wales and asked them to establish whether similar cases were present in their forces and how they were being dealt with.

He said all adult volunteers were checked and vetted by local forces before participating in cadet unit activities. “A new national safeguarding framework is being developed to ensure all police forces consistently meet the highest standards of safeguarding. We will act on any learning from these investigations and are working to share the new framework in early 2019,” he said.

“No young person involved in the police cadets should be subject to abuse of any kind and I urge anyone who has been, or anyone with concerns or information, to report it.”

Anyone who has experienced inappropriate behaviour within a volunteer police cadet programme is asked to contact the IOPC on 0300 020 0096 or cadets@policeconduct.gov.uk