The City of London Police have launched an operation which they say is intended to protect children from sexual exploitation in hotels within the Square Mile.
Today the Independent online newspaper reported that – as part of a London-wide operation – undercover police officers are going into hotels posing as men grooming young girls, accompanied by female police cadets acting as potential victims.
The undercover cops arrive at the hotels with a large amount of alcohol, attempt to pay in cash, and withhold their identification.
What they are testing is how the managers and receptionists react. Many hotels in the area have already received training on how to spot warning sings of abuse.
The police have not revealed how many hotels have been visited.
According to Barnardo’s, the children’s charity, in the three years to 2017-18 the number of offences linked to sexual exploitation in London has almost doubled, from 602 to 1,107.
