The National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) has responded to today's comments by the Home Secretary on domestic abuse and protecting vulnerable people.

Stalking and harassment can have a devastating effect on victims' lives and we remain focused and committed to improving training, guidance and our overall response.

We will work closely with chief constables, the Home Office and the College of Policing to build a consistent, multi-agency response to missing and vulnerable people.

We are supporting the National Working Group’s Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) Awareness Day today, March 18. This day highlights the threat from child sexual abuse, encouraging everyone to spot the signs of abuse, speak out against it and adopt a zero tolerance to adults or children developing inappropriate relationships with children.

Police forces up and down the country will be taking part in operational activity to deal with the threats of CSE and encouraging victims to come forward and report crimes. 

NPCC lead for child protection explains the police approach to sexting - we don't want children and young people to be criminalised but it's important to understand the dangers of sexting 

Changes in police recording and victims’ improved confidence in how the police will deal with abuse have played a significant part in the increase in reports to us but we are now starting work with academics to consider whether more children are actually being abused

The new national gun crime investigation manual for police forces was officially launched on 26 February.

National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) Lead for Child Protection and Child Abuse Investigations, Chief Constable Simon Bailey, has emphasised the importance of maintaining trust and confidence in the police service - so that victims of sexual abuse feel able to come forward and reports are investigated. 

National Police Chiefs' Council commit to being part of the Joint Fraud Taskforce to share intelligence, develop a unified response and gain greater awareness of the risk of fraud among consumers.

NPCC Lead for Prostitution and Exploitation ACC Nikki Holland has developed proposals to assist forces in dealing with sex work and related issues locally, which will now be subject to further consultation.

The use of corrosive substances to commit an act of violence is an extreme and generally very personalised crime. In recent years, the police have made great inroads in tackling violent crime and will continue to enhance our intelligence picture to reduce this type of offending in the future.

With the number crimes associated with online dating apps and websites increasing, users are urged to be as security conscious as possible and report any offences if they become a victim of this type of crime.