Lincolnshire Police have recently put out an appeal for information. This appeal is in relation to reports to the police that groups of men have been attempting to groom and sexually exploit young girls in the Lincoln and Crowland areas of the county.

The appeal from Lincolnshire Police is quite detailed. The appeal gives the locations where the alleged crimes have taken place, the modus operandi of the alleged groomers, how they are getting in contact with their targets, the fact that the police are actively involved in a number of different lines of enquiry regarding this case and the nature of the intended targets for alleged abuse. The police even mentioned that they had already arrested one person for sex trafficking and related offences although because this arrestee has not yet been charged, the police are not yet revealing a name. This not naming prior to charge is now usual practise with police since the terrible injustice of the Christopher Jefferies case of 2010, where an innocent man was smeared as a murderer by the Press and the police failed to give a statement of exoneration once it was quickly realised that Mr Jefferies was entirely innocent.

However apart from the name of the arrestee, which the police are not yet allowed to give, there is something missing from the appeal, something that might help to catch those suspected of these crimes and provide the public with sufficient information to allow the public to properly assist the police. Have a read through and see if you come to the same conclusions as I have.

Published: 15:40 15/12/2023

We are appealing for information following the arrest of a man in connection with an investigation into sexual exploitation of girls in the Lincoln and Crowland areas.

We received a report that a number of girls in their mid to late-teens were being exploited by men who have been travelling from outside the county for sexual gain.

It is alleged that the girls have been involved in conversations with men via mobile phones, and have met in person.

We are following a number of lines of enquiry to establish the circumstances, and we are now appealing to anyone else who might have information which could help our investigation to come forward.

We would be keen to hear from anyone who might have been in conversations with, or approached by, men in this way – please remember that you are not in trouble and we are here to help you. Your identity will always be protected.

A 42-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of causing or inciting sexual exploitation of a child, trafficking and sexual assault. He has been released on police bail while enquiries continue. 

Here you can find more information and links to support for child sexual exploitation. 

If you can help, please contact OIC DC Jann Olsen on jann.olsen@lincs.police.uk quoting incident number 326 of 10 December.

What is missing is any description of the alleged offenders or others the police might like to speak to. There’s also no description of any vehicles that might have been used in connection to these alleged offences. It strikes me as very odd that the police would not be publicising what many, including myself, believe is basic information necessary for the police to apprehend a suspect. ‘What do they look like, which direction did they go and how are they travelling’ are pretty basic bits of information that you might think very necessary to find an alleged criminal. If you was mugged or assaulted in the street and a police officer turned up then what the attacker looked like, which direction they took and what mode of transport they used would probably be the first things that you would tell the police officer. You would probably tell them this because this is the first most basic information the officer would need to know in order to catch your attacker.

This basic information, of the type described above, about the suspects in the Lincolnshire grooming gang complaint is missing. The question is why? There’s been a massive amount of speculation about this on social media as the absence of descriptive information about the alleged grooming gang members spoken about in the Lincolnshire Police appeal. The speculation as to the nature of the alleged offenders is in some way very justifiable. We know that there is an over representation of Muslims, often Pakistani heritage Muslims, who are involved in on street grooming. We’ve had enough court cases that have belatedly brought these rapist savages to justice to show us that this is a big problem.

The speculation that I’ve seen is centred on the lack of description of the alleged groomers. Catching these men could be made easier had the police issued descriptions of the alleged criminals which included a physical description along with information about clothing, cars etc.

I see no logical reason for the police not to do this. A description is an asset in a police appeal. Why not use that asset in order to apprehend these men more swiftly than may otherwise be the case?

I must admit that Lincolnshire Police’s appeal document does look, as one social media commentator said, as if it was ‘run past the force’s diversity consultants prior to publication’. It looks redacted, even if it isn’t and in the current climate where the police are increasingly being seen by the public to be overly politicised, people are going to assume that this redaction, if that is what it is, has been made primarily because the alleged assailants are Muslim.

What this assumption of bias on the part of the police shows is that public confidence in the police is starting to break down. We’ve seen the police forces failing to properly police pro-Hamas hate marches, fail to tackle Islamic Rape Gangs in a timely manner and who have enforced ‘hate speech’ laws against non-Muslims in a much harsher manner than Muslims. We’ve also seen forces such as the Metropolitan Police naively allow themselves, to permit those who have made Islamic extremist statements such as the chair of the London Muslim Communities Forum, to have extensive contacts with the Met and possibly influence operational policing decisions.

All this perception of bias adds up in the public mind and therefore I can easily understand why members of the public have come to the conclusion that Lincolnshire Police are hiding something about this latest series of grooming gang allegations. Sadly this perception of police bias has not come out of nowhere, it is a view that many members of the public have come to primarily because of actions by police forces that clearly look at worst bent and cowardly or at best merely mired in incompetence. These are not public images that police forces should want. They should want the public on their side after all policing requires the input of the public as well as that from professional police officers. Unfortunately Lincolnshire Police seem to have forgotten the need for public assistance and may not only have lengthened the time that it might take to catch these alleged assailants but have also raised suspicion among the public that Lincolnshire Police are doing their work in an equitable or impartial manner. Maybe there’s time for this force to make amends and publish a new appeal but one containing pertinent and necessary descriptive information. However knowing what I know about Britain’s declining in quality police forces, I won’t be holding my breath waiting for that to happen.