Sheffield gangs "grooming 10-year-olds", police say

A police unit has been set up to stop children as young as 10 being recruited by organised crime gangs.

South Yorkshire Police said the team would work with partners in housing, education and justice to identify those at risk of being exploited.

According to government figures, 2,738 gangs involved in drugs and violence operate across England and Wales.

The force said it hoped identifying children at risk and diverting them away from gang life could "save lives".

Det Supt Una Jennings said there were 52 gangs in South Yorkshire, including 20 operating in Sheffield, one of which had links to 30 children.

She said nationally the age profile of children becoming involved with gangs was dropping and the force has seen children "from 10 years up" involved in criminality.

"If you have committed a very serious violent offence - for example a robbery - by the time you're 11, you're 15 times more likely to then go on to commit much more serious criminality over the next number of years," she said.

"By the time I'm dealing with them in a police cell everybody else has failed, so identifying those people early and using evidence-based interventions is going to be key to stemming the flow."

Precise details of how the team will work and its budget have not been revealed by the force but it said it hoped by sharing information with other agencies it could devise "the right interventions for an individual child".

Rhiannon Sawyer, from the Children's Society, said that while the issue was not new there had been "an increased use of children over the years" and said the charity welcomed South Yorkshire Police's "multi-agency approach".

"It's not just a police problem, we can't police our way out of this," she said.