Manchester criminologists to lead new research on policing modern slavery

shutterstock_1523394551

The Vulnerability and Policing Futures Research Centre, led by the universities of York and Leeds, is the first of its kind to study how vulnerabilities - such as exploitation by county lines drug networks, online child sexual exploitation, domestic abuse, modern slavery, mental illness and homelessness - affect policing.

Within the Centre, Prof David Gadd and Dr Rose Broad will lead a project that seeks to redefine what realistic outcomes with regard to policing modern slavery might look like and how these could encompass a preventative dimension that reduces demand on police services over the longer term.

The project aims to:

• address the question of what kinds of reporting are genuinely useful to modern slavery investigations;
• identify what causes the attrition between the police bringing charges for modern slavery offences and the comparatively small number of convictions;
• and identify the key drivers of modern slavery in cases where offenders have been successfully prosecuted.

Find out more:

• Vulnerability and Policing Futures ESRC Research Centre

• £49m funding boost for urgent social and economic challenges