Police cost-cutting tactics put vulnerable children at risk

New guidelines will enable forces to respond to fewer cases by dividing those 'missing' and at risk from those simply 'absent' who do not warrant an immediate response

Children who go missing from home can be exploited

Vulnerable children are being placed at greater risk of abuse by cost-cutting police tactics to deal with missing people, child protection experts warned last night.

New guidelines from the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) to achieve "considerable savings" in police budgets across Britain expose a potentially crucial flaw in the categorisation of missing people.

A new report from Acpo, the National Crime Agency, and Portsmouth University's Centre for the Study of Missing Persons reveals that the new guidelines will enable police forces to respond to fewer cases by dividing those "missing" and at risk from those simply "absent" who do not warrant an immediate police response.

The number who could be listed as absent may mask children who are being sexually abused, campaigners warn, as they often go missing for short periods.

Ann Coffey MP, chair of the All Party Group for Runaway and Missing Children and Adults, explained: "The danger is children who are being sexually exploited may only be classed as absent because they go missing from home for short periods of time on a regular basis. The new rules could mean sexual exploitation goes on for longer before it comes to light."

So far, 14 police forces have adopted the new guidelines, announced earlier this year, and the latest report is based on responses from more than 650 police call handlers, supervisors and missing persons coordinators at six such forces. It concedes that the new approach has led to "some concern".

The revised guidelines were partially motivated by cost, the report adds, to "ensure that resources are deployed effectively" and "savings can be made "through this new policy".