MPS reorganises Sapphire unit

Sapphire, the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) unit, which deals with rape and sexual assault, is to be merged with the child protection unit.

The change comes as a part of an overhaul within the MPS following a damning report by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) on failings within the Southwark sex crimes unit.

An extra 100 officers will be brought in to the new body to tackle exploitation, including paedophile rings and grooming gangs.

Detective Chief Superintendent Mick Duthie, the head of the Sapphire command, said that officer numbers will be boosted “in response to the children`s commissioner`s report that said significant numbers of young people are at risk of being exploited.”

The study identified 2,409 children and young people as “confirmed victims” of sexual exploitation over a 14-month period. It also estimated that 16,500 children were at “high risk” during a 12-month period.

However, the report said this was an undercounting of the actual extent of the problem.

Det Ch Supt Duthie said: “I think [the risk] has always been there but we have not been as aware of it as we are now.”

He added that officers will preserve their specialisms: “We`ve made a conscious decision that this is a high-risk area, we need to have dedicated officers investigating dedicated types of crime. There will be separate rape teams and separate child abuse teams.”

Nevertheless, the majority of the extra officers will be of constable rank and the unit will lose Mr Duthie (who will become head of homicide next month) and one superintendant.

Questions have also been raised on whether the new unit should retain the name Sapphire because of the failings in the past.

Det Ch Supt Duthie said: “We`ve spoken to our partners about whether we will change the Sapphire name and some are saying get rid of it, some are saying a lot of people know what Sapphire does and if you lose that you will lose some victims` ability to contact police.”

An MPS spokesperson said that the name might not fit because, at the moment, it is associated only with rape investigations.