Criminal exploitation: practitioner guidance

8. Identifying Criminal Exploitation

39. Identifying criminal exploitation is the responsibility of all agencies and professionals who have duties for the care and protection of children and adults. Early and proactive identification can assist with preventing criminalisation of victims and further exploitation. Communities offer a wealth of knowledge and information that can support this process and should be included when developing local responses to criminal exploitation. Exploitation is often unrecognised or detected due to the exploitative nature of the relationships which requires individuals to conceal and hide their involvement from authorities.

40. The following examples can act as a guide for professionals in identifying exploitation, see appendix 3 at page 34 for a list of indicators:

• Increased/unexplained material wealth
• Debt/financial difficulties /poverty
• Individuals travelling to different areas/locations that they would not usually visit
• Changes to networks/peer groups who may be linked to criminality
• Receiving increased numbers of texts/phone calls from unknown callers
• Appearing agitated and nervous about answering calls/texts/going out
• Persistently going missing or returning late
• Leaving the house at odd times of day or night that is out with usual routine
• Substance misuse issues
• Increased offending with offences potentially linked to serious organised crime
• Individual traits – seeking a sense of status, reputation, power, acceptance
• Isolation and few positive relationships
• Serious violence
• Anti-social and/or pro-criminal attitudes
• Low self-esteem
• Low levels of empathy that are not developmentally expected
• Increased use of social media with different profiles
• Possession of 'burner' phones
• Experiencing threats, intimidation
• Associating in different areas/location/"going out of town"
• Deterioration in mental health
• Self-harm
• Criminal charges that suggest a level of sophistication in planning or dealing that seem advanced for that individual
• More frequent contact with police
• Coming into contact with police when there has been no previous involvement
• Family or family connections involved in organised crime.

41. It is critical to understand that the presence of indicators does not explicitly indicate exploitation is taking place and should be understood within and across the wider context of each individual and their relationships with their family, community and peers etc. In addition, it is not helpful to view these as a cumulative scorecard where the more factors identified the higher the likelihood of criminal exploitation taking place. The presence of one indicator may be sufficient to suggest someone is being criminally exploited and could also be a significant threat of harm to themselves or others as a result of this. It is about ensuring criminal exploitation is a consideration that is investigated, either evidenced or ruled out thus ensuring appropriate legal safeguards are in place concerning rights, processes and appropriate and proportionate care and protection actions taken.