By Superintendent Rai (Thames Valley Police).

The Chairman welcomed Superintendent Rai (Thames Valley Police) to the meeting and invited her to address the Panel.

Superintendent Rai gave Members a presentation on Human Trafficking and Exploitation.  The presentation covered the following:

·         What is Human Trafficking?

·         Types of Modern Slavery.

·         The Law.

·         Types of Trafficking.

·         Types of Control.

·         Signs that might indicate a victim.

·         Vulnerability Factors.

·         What are we doing as a Force?

·         The National Referral Mechanism.

·         NRM Referrals by TVP.

In the ensuing discussion the following points were noted:

v  That there had been at least three occasions in the last thirteen months when Superintendent Rai had referred suspected victims into the referral process but that none had come to fruition.

v  That there was no ‘hotline’ for victims to call and that it was the normal Police phone number that should be used.

v  Councillor Hari Dev Sharma commented that he felt this to be a very good tool and stated that it was vital to ensure victims received the proper support.

v  That vulnerability factors would be flagged to the Police (e.g. if they did not have access to their passports / mobile phones) if it was felt workers, for example illegal workers in the restaurant trade, were not there voluntarily.  It was noted that the Police would put people found to be working against their will in to the National Referrals Scheme which was a victim support programme to help the victim gain confidence whilst the Police started an investigation.  Members were informed that if it was believed to be high numbers of victims a victim reception area / centre would be set up.

v  That the Police had experience of illegal immigrants claiming to be victims of modern slavery.  It was noted that it was not the Police’s role to deport illegal immigrants. 

v  Parish Councillor Margaret Lenton stated that she felt victims of forced marriages needed to be given support in the local community (community lead support) to help give victims the strength to report incidents at Police Stations.

v  That the Police’s first aim was to safeguard the victims as some perpetrators were not seen as criminals in local communities, particularly in the case of forced marriage.

v  That the Police had access to a forced marriage survivor who was able to talk to victims about experiences to help raise awareness.  It was noted that Community Wardens also helped raise awareness. 

v  That there was not a list of what signs should be looked out for.

v  That the 2016 Global Slavery Index showed there were more victims of modern slavery today then there were 300 years ago which was felt to be a shocking fact.

v  Councillor Hari Dev Sharma stated that he believed it would be very helpful to raise awareness of these issues at the One Borough community forum meetings which were held on a monthly basis.  Superintendent Rai explained that whilst she agreed to some extent she felt that more general forums were sometimes more appropriate.

v  That both frontline and cross offence (specialist) officers were all trained to deal with modern slavery incidents.  It was noted that the only people in the Police that were not trained in this area were administration staff and Head Quarters staff.

The clerk was requested to email a copy of the presentation to the Panel.

The Chairman thanked Superintendent Rai for her presentation. 

Superintendent Rai left the meeting.