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Kent Police have improved the way they keep vulnerable children safe, but more work is still needed, a report has found.
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) found that since its last inspection of the force's child protection services in 2019 positive changes have been made.
These include improving how the force manages the control room and how police notifies local schools about children affected by domestic abuse.
The inspectorate also said that investigations falling within the remit of the specialist child protection teams are generally well conducted.
However, HMICFRS said that despite the force’s strong progress since 2019, it still had some concerns.
These include domestic abuse investigations where children are affected being impeded by ineffective supervision, investigative delays and "poor focus on the voice of the child".
In addition, front line officers don’t consistently record children's worries, behaviour and demeanour while vulnerable children detained in custody don't always receive timely support.
Zoë Billingham, from HMICFRS, said: "Kent Police has made some good progress since we last inspected how it keeps children safe in 2019.
"In particular, the way the force manages its control room is much improved, with better recognition of risk and officers responding more quickly to incidents involving vulnerable children.
"But there is still more work to do to provide better outcomes for vulnerable children in Kent - from police officers speaking directly to children more often to ensure their worries are heard, to better training for staff in the specialist teams that deal with sexual and violent offenders.
"I have every confidence that Kent Police’s leaders will take all the steps necessary to achieve the improvements we have recommended, and we will continue to work closely with the force to monitor its progress."
Assistant Chief Constable Simon Wilson, of Kent Police, said officers are committed to keeping children safe.
He said: "As a progressive force, we are grateful for the scrutiny of the independent policing inspectorate as it allows us to further improve the way we protect vulnerable people and safeguard children.
"Following HMICFRS’ visit in March 2021 a number of recommendations were made which we immediately began to action by increasing the number of officers on specialist teams working towards protecting and safeguarding children, enhancing our training of those officers and further developing our working practices with partner agencies.
"As a force we are committed to protecting and keeping children safe so we are pleased to see that the inspectors recognised the improvements Kent Police has made since its previous child protection inspection in April 2019 including important improvements to how our Force Control Room is managed and how officers liaise with schools about pupils affected by domestic abuse.
"It was also acknowledged that child protection investigations are generally well conducted, while a more recent inspection of our custody in June 2021 by the independent policing inspectorate has noted improvements in our custody processes and in particular how children are looked after when they are detained.
"There has also been a significant reduction in the number of children being detained in the last year, this being in line with the National Child Centred Policing Strategy, which aims to avoid unnecessarily criminalising children and young people.
"Since the inspection significant work has been progressed to enhance and develop the quality and efficiency of our domestic abuse investigations and further develop officers’ engagement with children affected by domestic abuse to ensure that we capture their experiences and understand their needs.
"We want survivors of domestic abuse and the wider public to know that enhancements have taken place and further work is well underway to continue to improve and evolve our response to make sure Kent Police offers the very best service and support to survivors of domestic abuse and those children who are affected by it."
