MACE Persons who pose a risk by Exploitation Process

MACE Persons who pose a risk by Exploitation Process

What is MACE and Contextual Safeguarding (CS) Level 2?

The Multi-Agency Child Exploitation (MACE) and Contextual Safeguarding (CS) Level 2 meetings focus on the following vulnerabilities:

• Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE)
• Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE)
• Harmful Sexual Behaviour (HSB)
• Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking (MSHT)
• Missing from Home (MFH)
• Online Child Exploitation and Wider Contextual Safeguarding 

Meetings facilitate the sharing of information about children at risk of exploitation, as well as potential perpetrators and locations that could pose a risk to children and young people. The groups formulate multi-agency action plans to identify, detect and disrupt the risks to children and young people in the community. Further info can be found in the MACE Practice Guidance at MACE Practice Guidance.

How do professionals identify someone who may pose a risk by exploitation?

If a professional believes an individual to pose a direct or immediate threat to a young person, they should contact the Police on 101 (or 999 if an emergency). If a professional has concerns that an individual may pose a risk by exploitation towards a child, but does not require an immediate response, they should submit a Police Partnership Information form. North Yorkshire Police will then review and assess that information and share it with the MACE Level 2 meeting. Information around an individual who may pose a risk by exploitation may also be identified from the MACE Level 2 meeting through discussions around locality intelligence and themes.

What happens once a person has been identified who may pose a risk by exploitation?

Agency SPOCs within the MACE Level 2 meeting are responsible for making a decision as to whether an individual poses a risk by exploitation. This is done in consultation with those in attendance at the level 2 MACE meetings. They may be assessed as either:

a) an individual who may pose a risk by exploitation, however requires further local intelligence development, or,

b) an individual whereby there is considerable intelligence to indicate that they pose a risk by exploitation and should be formally assessed as a perpetrator of Child Exploitation.

How are persons who may pose a risk by exploitation managed?

Those individuals within category a) will be added to the MACE Level 2 Agenda and local intelligence development work undertaken by all partners to understand the nature of the risk (if any) posed. If that work indicates that they pose a risk by exploitation, then agency SPOCs in the meeting will make a decision in consultation with partners as to whether they should be assessed as a perpetrator. Should further information indicate this not to be the case, it will be agreed in the meeting that they can be removed from the agenda.

For individuals in category b), a formal assessment will take place by the Detective Inspector of Safeguarding (Missing & Exploitation) and if adopted as a Child Exploitation Perpetrator they will be flagged as such on Police systems and added to MACE Level 2 agenda.

The Detective Inspector will be responsible for flagging the individual on Police systems and will work with Commands to identify a Lead Responsible Officer who will develop a multi-agency disruption plan around the individual.

All updates and disruption activity will be fed back into MACE Level 2 using the Perpetrator on a Page document to ensure that all partners have suitable oversight of the dynamic risk and disruption activity.

What happens when the risk has been reduced?

An adopted perpetrator will be subject to monthly reviews by the Detective Inspector and discussed with partners at the MACE Level 2 meetings.  When the information / intelligence picture confirms that an individual no longer poses an identifiable risk by exploitation they will be removed as a perpetrator with a detailed rationale to support removal which will be provided to MACE Level 2.  All flags will be removed from North Yorkshire Police systems. For more information on MACE Level 1 click here and MACE Level 2 click here.