Dorset – National child protection inspection
This report is a summary of the findings of our inspection of police child protection services in Dorset, which took place during April 2021.
We examined the effectiveness of the decisions made by the police at each stage of their interactions with or for children, from initial contact through to the investigation of offences against them. We also scrutinised the treatment of children in custody, and assessed how the force is structured, led and governed, in relation to its child protection services.
During our inspection, we examined 83 cases where the police had identified children at risk. We assessed the force’s child protection practice as good in 20 cases, requiring improvement in 35 cases and inadequate in 28 cases. So the force needs to do more to make sure that it gives a consistently good service to all children.
This report sets out our findings.
Download the report
Dorset – National child protection inspection (PDF document)
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Dorset – National child protection inspection (HTML)Get the press release
Dorset Police needs to improve child protection