ONE of Cumbria's most senior police officers says the force has never been more determined to protect the county's children from rising numbers of paedophiles and child abusers.
The pledge came from Detective Chief Superintendent Andy Slattery - the force's crime and investigations boss - following the publication of a highly critical report into police child protection failures on Thursday.
The document, based on the findings of an inspection by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary last July, orders Cumbria Constabulary to make urgent improvements to the way it protects vulnerable children across the area.
RELATED ARTICLE: Police watchdog to ensure Cumbria force learns lessons from Poppi case
DCS Slattery accepted the conclusions of the HMIC investigation, launched in the wake of the force's botched investigation into the death of Barrow baby Poppi Worthington, which highlights multiple deficiencies in the way the constabulary has dealt with the threat of sexual abuse against children and child sexual exploitation.
But in an exclusive interview with the Evening Mail, he promised robust systems are already in place to ensure youngsters across the area are safer than ever before.
"We fully accept the findings of HMIC in their report and we welcome their inspections as a way of continually improving how we operate."
But DCS Slattery, an officer with 26 years police service under his belt, added: "There isn't a single person in this force who doesn't want to do everything possible to keep children in this county safe.
"It's disappointing that when the inspectorate visited in July and spoke to some staff they didn't all have the understanding of child protection that we hoped.
"But there is a real determination to arrest and charge anyone who commits child abuse or who is operating in either the online or real world to groom or sexually exploit children."
The report applauded the immediate response of officers to reports of suspected child abuse cases as well as those with specialist training.
But it found lines of significant inquiry were not always followed up, leaving some children at 'significant risk' of future harm.
In one case, a man alleged to have sexually assaulted an eight-year-old girl was not arrested for three weeks, despite having been found to be in possession of explicit images on his mobile phone.
Overall, inspectors judged 26 of the force's investigations to be inadequate while a further 35 were deemed to require improvement.
Following the inspection last year all staff, including 600 frontline officers, within Cumbria Constabulary have received new training on child protection.
The force is also now using criteria set by HMIC to audit its own investigations to make sure they are up to scratch.
And it has opened a multi-agency child protection hub at Cumbria police headquarters in Penrith so information held by police, social services and health agencies is shared quickly in every case.
DCS Slattery explained further efforts are being made to catch growing numbers of predatory child sex abusers in the county as well as those who attempt to exploit children.
"There's no doubt, it is happening here," he said.
"But we are absolutely committed to keeping our children safe."
READ MORE: Police need to improve protection of at-risk Cumbria children, report finds
READ MORE: Reports of child sex offences in Cumbria more than double
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here