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Police response to investigating child abuse

Investigation — Authorised Professional Practice

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Summary

This section outlines the police's duty to safeguard children and provides guidance on managing and supervising investigations related to child abuse. It highlights the pathways through which concerns about children are reported to the police and emphasizes the importance of structured responses for effectively addressing such incidents. The content is intended for police officers and staff involved in responding to complaints about child abuse and is also relevant for police managers focusing on policy development in this area.

Key principles

  • 1Duty to safeguard children
  • 2Managing risks associated with investigations
  • 3Multi-agency collaboration in safeguarding cases
  • 4Supervision of child abuse investigations
  • 5Effective information management
  • 6Training and support for responding officers

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.

The police have a duty to safeguard children. This section outlines the ways in which concerns about children come to the attention of the police, and gives guidance on managing and supervising these investigations.

police officers and police staff who may receive a report of an incident involving a child, or who deal with situations which may indicate concerns about a child * police managers and those involved in developing policy on police responses to child abuse and safeguarding children

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Reproduced from the College of Policing Authorised Professional Practice under the Open Government Licence v3.0, as captured on 2026-06-27. APP is amended over time — check the source link below for the current version. This is a reference, not operational authorisation.

APP is the authoritative source for UK policing practice and is updated over time. For the current, official version — including any operational detail not reproduced here — go direct.

Read the full APP guidance

Source: College of Policing — Authorised Professional Practice · Crown copyright, licensed under Open Government Licence v3.0. Summary fetched 2026-06-27.