Hotel, taxi and bar staff empowered to stop child sexual and criminal exploitation

Hotel staff, taxi drivers, bar staff and others are being asked to play their part in protecting children from exploitation and abuse.

Officers from Nottinghamshire Police’s Child at Risk of Exploitation Team are visiting hotels across the county this week as part of Operation Makesafe – a nationwide initiative to protect vulnerable young people from harm.

Hotel workers, who are being spoken to in person and left with printed materials, are being urged to follow their instincts and report personal interactions that look or feel wrong.

Taxi drivers – often involved in transporting abusers and victims to these locations – are also being spoken to about these classic warning signs of abuse.

Key warning signs, also shared with licenced venues, include nervous looking young people in the company of older men, short notice bookings, guests with no luggage and suspicious activity in and around bedrooms.

Detective Sergeant Adam Taylor, of Nottinghamshire Police, said:

“I believe that people generally have very good instincts about situations that don’t look or feel right, so this initiative is mainly about empowering them to act on those feelings by sharing some of the key warning signs with them.

“Things we urge them to look out for include older men in the company of teenage girls, or boys, who are clearly not related to them; children who may be intoxicated or uncomfortable in the company of adults; late-notice check-ins with no luggage, and multiple visitors going to and from the same room.

“These are all classic signs of child exploitation and it’s important that our hotel workers, taxi drivers, bar staff and others likely to come into contact with exploited children are aware of them and feel confident to act.

“We really can’t have too much information so I encourage anyone who has concerns to call us immediately via 101 or 999 so we can investigate.

“Sometimes there may be a perfectly innocent explanation, but if we can protect even one vulnerable young person from harm this initiative will have been worthwhile.”

Hotels, drivers and other venues are also being advised of the importance of retaining CCTV, incident logs and refusal records for further investigation.”

Above all they are being asked to report suspicious behaviour to the police by calling 101, or 999 in an emergency.