Exploitation: Criminal Investigation

As part of the response to the Casey Independent Audit of Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse the government has recently provided £426,000 of new funding to the Tackling Organised Exploitation Programme (TOEX). The new funding will enable TOEX to extend access to its suite of cutting-edge investigative apps and digital tools, stored within its secure capabilities environment, to all Home Office police forces in England and Wales.

In total, the Home Office is providing TOEX over £9 million this year to increase law enforcement’s capability to respond to organised exploitation, including by providing dedicated intelligence, analytical and technical expertise. This includes child sexual exploitation, alongside other organised exploitation crimes including modern slavery, organised immigration crimes, and criminal exploitation.

The additional funding will allow for the expedited roll out of the TOEX Capabilities Environment, to ensure all police investigators in England and Wales have access to the full array of TOEX’s AI-enabled and time-saving tools.

The TOEX programme contacted all forces in England and Wales to provide information on how they can access the TOEX tools following the Minister’s announcement is August. In addition to the 15 police forces which are already utilising TOEX tools, a further 12 forces are currently onboarding. TOEX are continuing to engage with further forces to support the expansion.