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<p>In October 2016 the Home Secretary announced £8.5m of additional funding would
be made available to police forces in England and Wales to transform the policing
response to modern slavery. The funding from the Police Transformation Fund has provided
for nearly 70 new and dedicated roles to provide the police with improved intelligence,
better training and specialist tactical advice to overhaul and strengthen the operational
response. Included in the additional capabilities are:</p><p><strong>Single Points
of Contact (SPOCs)</strong></p><p>Forces have been encouraged to identify tactical
and strategic SPOCs and have been given an action plan for SPOCs to help them develop
best practice. A programme of roadshows and events that bring these SPOCs together
at each level has taken place over the last year and this schedule projects forward
beyond the end of the funding period.</p><p><strong>Intelligence and Data</strong></p><p>The
Joint Slavery and Trafficking Analysis Centre (JSTAC) is building and developing the
strategic intelligence picture by improving data collection and analysis of the information
gathered. To aid in international dissemination of information, a seconded national
expert to Europol to coordinate activity between UK law enforcement and European counterparts
during cross-border investigations has been implemented. Supporting the JSTAC, the
police national insight team and regional analysts located in the Regional Organised
Crime Units (ROCUs) provide regular intelligence products to inform policing at a
national, regional, and force level.</p><p>All three of the analytical teams, and
a separate team dedicated to overcoming challenges in the dissemination of NRM material
are contributing to guidance to forces about crime recording, and intelligence flows
within law enforcement and between partners.</p><p><strong>Training and dealing with
vulnerable people</strong></p><p>The College of Policing accredited programme of training
activity for all frontline police officers and staff, was launched in July 2017. Over
120 police trainers have been trained in delivering an awareness raising module within
forces. Over 1000 frontline staff have attended awareness raising roadshows organised
in each region. In addition, funding has been made available for a specialist training
course for detectives working on modern slavery cases, which include advice and guidance
on supporting victims through the CJS process. To date over 300 investigators have
gone through these courses. In addition, new specialist guidance for officers who
interview vulnerable victims of trafficking has been developed and over 575 interviewers
have received training linked to this. Resources to support investigators, analysts
and front line staff in the police, and appropriate other agencies, are available
through the College of Policing Polka site.</p><p>One of the two victim advocacy roles
within the Modern Slavery Police Transformation Programme has focused on improving
the use of the Achieving Best Evidence (ABE) process in modern slavery cases, in light
of the recommendation made in the Modern Slavery Act Review. This includes developing
specialist interview techniques for victims reporting modern slavery. The approach
has been endorsed by the College of Policing and promoted to over 575 existing ABE
interviewers to date.</p><p>The Crown Prosecution Service has delivered mandatory
face to face accredited training for prosecutors to develop expertise and build resilience
in complex casework units, central casework units and for criminal justice advisors
overseas.</p><p><strong>Outcomes</strong></p><p>As a result of this investment the
number of modern slavery law enforcement operations ongoing at any one time have more
than tripled (from 188 in December 2018 to 643 in March 2018). As of March 2018, police
services are working to identify and protect at least 1500 vulnerable persons who
the police consider may be victims of modern slavery.</p>
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