GMP Cadet Units take part in exploitation awareness sessions to promote conversation
Members of GMP’s Volunteer Police Cadet units, aged 13-17, are participating in awareness sessions focused on child exploitation, including criminal and sexual exploitation, trafficking, peer abuse, and online harm. The programme aims to educate cadets on recognising signs of exploitation, utilising case studies and scenarios to foster critical thinking. Sessions also address emerging concerns like vaping in schools. The initiative aligns with Child Exploitation Awareness Day and seeks to prioritise children's perspectives in police responses to exploitation.
Greater Manchester Police cadets, aged 13 to 17, are attending workshops that teach them how to recognise child exploitation.
The programme covers child criminal exploitation, county lines, child sexual exploitation, trafficking, peer-on-peer abuse and online harm.
Officers have already delivered sessions to several Volunteer Police Cadet units, with the remaining districts scheduled over the coming weeks.
Cadets work through real-life case studies, discuss myths around exploitation and learn how offenders groom young people. Topics include the spread of vaping devices in schools and where teenagers can find help.
The force said the initiative is designed to place children’s views at the centre of its response to abuse and to highlight safe places across Greater Manchester.
Rosie Hyland, GMP’s safeguarding lead, said: “The sessions give cadets the tools to spot exploitation and understand the complex nature of contextual harm. I am proud of their thoughtful contributions about the pressures children face every day, online and offline. We will keep looking for ways to improve the service we provide to young people.”
The training coincided with National Child Exploitation Awareness Day on 18 March, when officers and staff refreshed their knowledge of abuse indicators and challenged common misconceptions.
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