Spots the Signs. Stop the Crime.

Young people, their families and friends are being urged to ‘Spot the Signs’ of child criminal exploitation in a campaign run by the Police and Crime Commissioner for Wiltshire and Swindon and Wiltshire Police.

The focus on education aims to help stem the instances of child exploitation in our communities and the serious violence often associated with this type of exploitation, including knife crime and gang culture.

The campaign aims to educate young people and those close to them on how to spot that exploitation may be taking over a young person’s life by using a targeted social media campaign aimed at both young people and adults, educational visits to schools and real-life case studies from young people who have managed to break the cycle.

Child criminal exploitation is where criminals use children to commit offences for them in exchange for cash and gifts – these can be actual but also online ‘gifts’ like virtual money in online gaming communities. The young person is then often manipulated and pressured into doing things like stealing or carrying drugs or weapons in return.

Tackling serious violence has been identified as a priority by both Wiltshire Police Chief Constable Catherine Roper and the Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Wilkinson in recognition of the serious harm it causes victims, their families and the wider communities where it occurs.

The Wiltshire Serious Violence Duty Strategic Needs Assessment (SNA) – a multi-agency initiative which aims to better understand serious violence in Wiltshire and why it happens – highlights a 2023 schools survey which demonstrated that only 3% of young people admitted to having carried a knife.

However, most young people estimated that around 19% of their peers carried a knife, demonstrating the significant difference between the perceived threat of youth knife carriers versus the reality perpetuating a culture of fear amongst young people. This campaign will also challenge these perceptions.

The signs to look out for include:

• Unexplained money or gifts, such as new trainers, clothing or phones
• Significant decline in school attendance and/or performance
• Changes in mood and behaviour, such as becoming more surly, aggressive or angry
• Increasing amounts of time spent on social media, particularly talking to ‘friends’ they haven’t met or you don’t know
• Relationships with older people
• Possession of a second mobile phone from which they are receiving a high volume of calls or need to leave urgently after receiving a text/call.

These indicators do not necessarily mean a child is being exploited – however they are possible warning signs which could indicate that a child is being used by criminal gangs for their own gain.