Parents need to know who their children are at risk from
Posted on 26. Nov, 2009 by Martin Wingfield in Constituency News
THE Constituency Office of Nick Griffin MEP has made a Freedom of Information request to Lancashire Police concerning its Operation Engage which has been running for the past four years.
Operation Engage is an investigation into very young girls being groomed for sex by older men in Lancashire.
Since being elected to the European Parliament in June, Nick Griffin has been contacted by numerous parents whose daughters have been victims of grooming.
“There is a definite trend coming from the cases that I have been made known of,” says the MEP for the North West Region.
“The perpetrators have very similar backgrounds and so do their victims. I know that the multi-agency team behind Operation Engage have also identified a trend and this needs to be made public so that parents can be made aware of who their children may be at risk from.”
“It is worrying that Detective Sergeant Mark Whelan, who leads the team, was reported in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph as acknowledging that prosecution statistics don’t reflect the level of work which goes into tackling this grooming.
“I think we need to know more about what is going on and that is why I have asked my office to make the following Freedom of Information request:
1) What is the racial breakdown of the offenders arrested under this operation
2) How many have been prosecuted
3) How many have been convicted
4) What is the racial breakdown of the victims
