Responding to child sexual exploitation
Major investigation and public protection — Authorised Professional Practice
Summary
This guidance has been established following notable cases (e.g., Operation Span, Operation Retriever, Operation Bullfinch) that stressed the significance of a consistent approach in identifying risks and safeguarding children and young people. It aims to enhance awareness about child sexual exploitation (CSE), promote reporting, disrupt offender activities, and reinforce protective measures for children and young people from exploitation. As a form of child abuse, CSE guidance should be read alongside the APP on child abuse and the CPS Guidelines on Prosecuting Cases of Child Sexual Abuse.
Key principles
- 1Consistent approach to identifying risks
- 2Increased reporting of CSE incidents
- 3Disruption of offender activities
- 4Strengthened safeguarding measures
Defined terms
- Child Sexual Exploitation
- A form of child abuse.
Full guidance
Responding to public protection and major investigation issues, for example, child abuse, knife crime and sexual offences
This page is from APP, the official source of professional practice for policing.
This guidance has been written following a series of high-profile cases (Operation Span, Operation Retriever and Operation Bullfinch) in 2012/13 which highlighted the need for a consistent approach to identifying risks and safeguarding children and young people from sexual exploitation. It is designed to raise awareness of child sexual exploitation (CSE) matters, increase reporting, disrupt offender activity and increase safeguarding measures to help protect children and young people from being sexually exploited.
CSE is a form of child abuse and this guidance should, therefore, be read in conjunction with APP on child abuse , forthcoming guidance on working with vulnerable people and CPS (2013) Guidelines on Prosecuting Cases of Child Sexual Abuse(opens an external website in the same tab) .
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Read the full APP guidanceSource: College of Policing — Authorised Professional Practice · Crown copyright, licensed under Open Government Licence v3.0. Summary fetched 2026-06-27.