Supporting child protection
and abuse investigation
About the
Hydrant Programme
The Hydrant Programme is a national policing programme supporting the work of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) Child Protection and Abuse Investigation Working Group. Originally established in 2014 to coordinate the response to non-recent child sexual abuse, but now supporting forces across all child protection and abuse investigation issues.
Hydrant develops policy and strategy on behalf of the NPCC, develops and delivers best practice advice including a learning, review and improvement function, provides a strategic analysis capability and partnership engagement with key stakeholders and partners.
What we offer
A Peer Review, Peer Support, CPD and Debrief function working across all elements of child abuse and child protection, which forces can access at no cost.
A Partnership Hub which supports key stakeholders and organisations with operational child protection and safeguarding issues.
An Analysis and Research Team who work in collaboration with the Vulnerability Knowledge and Practice Programme and the National Crime Agency to enhance understanding of the prevalence of child sexual abuse and exploitation and the risk and harm it presents. The aim of this is to address identified gaps in policing’s national capability highlighted by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and others.
A Communications Team with the ability to coordinate issues of national operational criticality within the vulnerability portfolio when this is appropriate, for example policing’s response to incidents like the Everyone’s Invited movement and the football abuse scandal.
News & events
-
6th Jan 2025
ACC Becky Riggs, National Policing Lead for Child Protection and Abuse Investigations responds to recent reporting on group-based offending.Towards the end of last week and throughout the weekend, there has been considerable media focus on the issue of child sexual abuse and exploitation, particularly group-based child sexual exploitation, and the steps being taken to combat this deeply disturbing criminal activity.
-
2nd Jan 2025
New Year, new opportunities - aspirations for 2025 with National Child Protection and Abuse Investigation Lead ACC Becky RiggsDuring 2024 there were many achievements across the Child Protection and Abuse Investigation (CPAI) portfolio and for the Hydrant Programme and CSE Taskforce more specifically. As you know, in policing we must never stand still. In this blog the NPCC lead for CPAI ACC Becky Riggs, shares her aspirations for 2025.
-
6th Dec 2024
Police and hospitality industry unite in fight against child sexual exploitation as national prevention programme is launched.Today (Friday 6 December) the Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) Taskforce and partners from across the hospitality industry are uniting in the fight against child exploitation and abuse, with the aim of stamping out some of the worst criminality our society sees.
Operation Makesafe provides a significant opportunity to prevent child sexual exploitation, specifically incidents which take place in hotels and other forms of accommodation within the hospitality industry.
-
6th Jan 2025
ACC Becky Riggs, National Policing Lead for Child Protection and Abuse Investigations responds to recent reporting on group-based offending.Towards the end of last week and throughout the weekend, there has been considerable media focus on the issue of child sexual abuse and exploitation, particularly group-based child sexual exploitation, and the steps being taken to combat this deeply disturbing criminal activity.
-
2nd Jan 2025
New Year, new opportunities - aspirations for 2025 with National Child Protection and Abuse Investigation Lead ACC Becky RiggsDuring 2024 there were many achievements across the Child Protection and Abuse Investigation (CPAI) portfolio and for the Hydrant Programme and CSE Taskforce more specifically. As you know, in policing we must never stand still. In this blog the NPCC lead for CPAI ACC Becky Riggs, shares her aspirations for 2025.
-
6th Dec 2024
Police and hospitality industry unite in fight against child sexual exploitation as national prevention programme is launched.Today (Friday 6 December) the Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) Taskforce and partners from across the hospitality industry are uniting in the fight against child exploitation and abuse, with the aim of stamping out some of the worst criminality our society sees.
Operation Makesafe provides a significant opportunity to prevent child sexual exploitation, specifically incidents which take place in hotels and other forms of accommodation within the hospitality industry.
