A high risk student in Brent

Grooming, anti-social behaviour and drug dealing

What was the problem? Ongoing concerns about the suspected grooming, anti-social and drug dealing activities of a high-risk student.
How was it deal with? Our SSO was present at every Child In Need (CIN) and Child Protection meeting. We shared intelligence with each other (police>school, school>police) to monitor and update the situation. When the student was arrested out of London, both our SSO and I liaised with each other to obtain information, create a contextual safeguarding map of over 20 names across four schools and beyond, and visited the student's home together when he was not attending the school.
What was the outcome and why was it a success? The outcome was further intervention by Brent Children and Families Service and the student's arrest, but we were able to safeguard many more students from following the same path due to the development of the contextual map. We were also able to maintain positive communication with the student's mother throughout, as she was extremely ill, and the support the student required from Police and School was there throughout the case, even though it was not always utilised.

Author

Steven Sweeney BSc (Hons), MSc

Metropolitan Police Service, Frontline Policing Delivery Unit, Youth Policy Team