Over 250 people sign up for virtual cuckooing conference
Wednesday, 17 March 2021
Over 250 people signed up to attend our virtual conference, yesterday (Tuesday).
We organised the cuckooing and exploitation conference for professionals and partner agencies, to raise awareness of both issues.
We gave attendees some background info on cuckooing, and spoke about our work to safeguard victims.
Guest speakers included Sergeant James West from Bedfordshire Police, who gave a presentation to highlight how drugs supply and cuckooing are linked, and Pete Gomm, Bedfordshire Police’s Child Sexual Exploitation and Operation Makesafe Coordinator.
Sergeant West said:
We will relentlessly pursue and disrupt those we suspect of being involved in drug dealing and other forms of serious and organised crime.
But it is only by working with our partners that we can tackle the root causes of these issues and protect vulnerable people from exploitation.
Central Bedfordshire Council’s Safer Communities & Partnership Team do fantastic work alongside to stop the gangs responsible for this exploitation and to keep their residents safe.
Councillor Ian Dalgarno, our Executive Member for Community Services, said:
We’re really pleased by the response to our conference, as working in partnership is key to ending exploitation like cuckooing. By hosting this type of event to increase understanding amongst partners, we will be able to continue to tackle this kind of exploitation together.
I’d like to thank all our guest speakers for taking the time to come along and give presentations.
We work with a range of agencies (including the police, mental health services and housing associations) to help, support and safeguard vulnerable victims of cuckooing and exploitation. We hope to run another conference in September.
To report concerns about cuckooing, email community.safety@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk.
You can also call Bedfordshire Police on 101.