Beyond the Incident: Using Network Mapping to Disrupt Child Exploitation - by Fred Toon (Specialist Exploitation Consultant)

Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE) and Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) are pervasive and complex threats, often hidden in plain sight and tragically misidentified as adolescent criminality or “risky behaviour”. This mislabelling is one of the greatest barriers to protection, as it leads to the criminalisation of victims while the true perpetrators operate with impunity.

On the occasions when Child Exploitation is identified, many organisations' response is necessarily reactive: responding to incidents, safeguarding individual victims, and managing crises. But what if we could get ahead of the threat? To effectively protect vulnerable young people, we must move beyond seeing isolated incidents and start visualising the entire ecosystem of exploitation.

The key to this proactive shift lies in intelligence-led mapping of gang and group-related offending.

Too often, data exists in silos: on a referral form, in case notes, in conversations with care staff, missing episodes, social media posts, police intelligence, and school attendance records. The challenge isn't a lack of information, but a lack of connection. The first step is to establish a secure, multi-agency process often a combination of dedicated software and structured analytical meetings to ethically collate and standardise this information. By systematically collecting and analysing this data, from referral patterns and incident locations to known associations and modus operandi we can begin to see the network, not just the nodes.

This process transforms raw data into an intelligible map of exploitation networks. It allows us to identify key perpetrators, understand recruitment pathways, and pinpoint geographical hotspots. Correctly using this information helps us better understand the relationships, pressures, and dynamics that fuel CCE. For example, mapping might reveal that a local fast-food outlet is a consistent rendezvous point, or that a specific group is systematically targeting children with poor school attendance, intelligence that allows for precise, pre-emptive intervention.

However, translating this complex network map into a clear, actionable strategy is the critical next step. This is where a specialised, data-driven approach proves its worth. Many organisations possess the will but lack the specialised analytical skills or the framework to turn insight into an operational plan without external support.

Having pioneered a data-led approach using GIS and police intelligence in practice, I’ve seen firsthand how it leads to targeted safeguarding strategies and reduces repeat victimisation. In one case, my mapping directly identified a child who was at high risk of being forced to move drugs across county lines; this enabled partners to secure a safe house placement and disrupt the planned movement. On another occasion I was able to identify a cluster of exploiters who were targeting vulnerable asylum seeking children for the purpose of sexual exploitation, as a result police were able to increase their presence in the identified location and gather the evidence needed to issue A Slavery and Trafficking Risk Order (STRO).  

The working relationships and close collaboration I built with partners like the Metropolitan Police Gangs units and Child Exploitation teams has enabled coordinated, rapid responses to disrupt high-risk County Lines operations. 

This experience directly informs our consultancy. We help organisations bridge the gap between insight and action by:

• Developing clear frameworks to map exploitation networks visually.

• Identifying children at the greatest risk of being targeted or re-exploited.

• Enabling teams to allocate scarce resources more effectively, focusing on prevention and strategic disruption.

• Building a Strategic Partnership: .We work alongside your team to embed this capability, providing training, facilitating multi-agency workshops, and helping you establish the governance needed to act on the intelligence you gather.

Ultimately, this methodology is about more than data, it's about creating safer futures for young people. By moving from a reactive posture to a proactive, intelligence-led strategy, we can disrupt the cycles of exploitation before they claim another victim.

If your organisation is looking to strengthen its data-driven approach to tackling Child Criminal Exploitation, we invite you to connect with us. At Oxonia Care Consultancy, we combine strategic oversight with practical, on-the-ground experience.

Let's collaborate to build a more resilient front against exploitation.