New team to examine police handling of abuse cases

A new UK-wide research team has been set up to improve the way
the police investigate cases of child abuse.

The unit has been set up at a time of increasing disquiet over
the way the police gather evidence in child abuse cases. The
Commons select committee on home affairs is about to launch a wide
ranging inquiry into the way such cases have been handled in the
past.

Terry Grange, chief constable of Dyfed Powys Police and
spokesperson for the Association of Chief Police Officers, has set
up the research unit at the national crime facility at Bramshill
police college in Hampshire. He is also compiling a guide for
detectives who are working on child abuse cases.

The aim of the research says Grange is to try to eliminate some
of the errors that have occurred in high profile cases where the
police have been accused of leading witnesses to make false
allegations. He added that some of the inquiries into abuse at care
homes could have made mistakes and some of those who have been
jailed could have been victims of miscarriages of justice.