The Met Police's response to child exploitation is not currently effective, a watchdog finds.
"For the benefit of London's children, the force should implement our recommendations in full and without delay," HMICFRS said
HMICFRS said in its report published on Friday that the Met's lack of understanding of the nature and scale of criminal and sexual child exploitation was a "significant barrier" to the force being able to tackle the problem. It also had concerns about victim-blaming language among officers and staff, and officers failing to identify exploitation or to understand the links between missing children and exploitation.
The inspectorate made 11 recommendations in its report including more training, working with safeguarding partners, following all reasonable lines of inquiry and challenging victim-blaming language.Lee Freeman, an inspector at HMICFRS, said: "Children who are at risk of exploitation, or who go missing from home, are some of the most vulnerable in society.
He added the Met had already committed to increasing the number of officers in some teams dealing with child exploitation.
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