In 2024/25, there were ****** child cruelty offences recorded by the police in England and Wales, an increase when compared with the previous reporting year and a peak for this type of offence.

Building on our research expertise on using ‘serious game’ technology for more effective training for child protection workers, the Centre for Child Protection (CCP) partnered with Kent Police (KP) to co-create an ESRC funded pilot-simulation training tool embedding a trauma informed approach (TIA) within police responses to girls with lived experience of child sexual exploitation (GLE-CSE), aiding in the disruption of violence against women and girls. This project utilised a participatory action and co-creation approach with KP collaborators and delegates who offered detailed feedback on development and delivery of this simulation training experience.

Across a range of workshops, CCP and KP reviewed relevant literature, unpublished police cases, and subject specific tacit/academic knowledge to create 6 learning outcomes (LO): • (LO1) Develop knowledge around identification and recognition of CSE, • (LO2) Understand how to support GLE-CSE with a TIA, • (LO3) Develop skills around the active investigation of CSE with GLE-CSE, • (LO4) Understand how to prepare and present CSE cases to the Crown Prosecution Service • (LO5) Recognise and respond to secondary trauma in oneself and colleagues • (LO6) Develop skills to engage GLE-CSE. Workshops also included simulation planning via the application of tacit/academic knowledge within interactive elements, storyline, diverse character details and backgrounds, script writing, training strategies to engage police, and the sketching of characters. Outputs from the collaborative design were integrated into the creation of a pilot training tool, supporting training materials which included instructions, activities, worksheets, a training pack, and an academic overview of essential concepts.

Training was delivered to 77 investigators and evaluated using a mixed-methods survey with short answer feedback and Likert-style questions. There was a 100% response rate. Participants completed feedback forms before, during and after training where they self-assessed against learning outcomes (LO).

Participants liked the interactive training tool, case scenario and topics explored and wanted even more immersive content and further elaboration of some key topics. The training enhanced understanding of TIA to investigating CSE cases. 95% of delegates rated the training as ‘highly relevant’ or ‘relevant’ with 99% rating the tool as ‘very helpful’ or ‘helpful’. Improvement across all LOs was evident.

The first set of data is secondary data on child exploitation in Zimbabwe that the project collected from the NGO partner, CLZ. The data was collected through a 24 hour helpline and is in the form of summaries of the conversations held with the individuals who called CLZ to report cases of child abuse and exploitation. The second set of data is secondary data that we collected from our NGO partner organisation, LJI. This is based on the organisation’s human trafficking interception work in Zimbabwe, which involves placing monitors at strategic transit points to identify and stop trafficking as it occurs.