Police encouraged to use AI to track down grooming gangs and child sex offenders

A new government initiative will grant police use of cutting edge artificial intelligence to track down grooming gangs and child sex offenders.

The AI tools are set to help officers analyse large datasets, translate foreign-language material, and identify patterns and relationships between suspects.

Backed by £9 million, the technology will enable to bring predators to justice “regardless of size or local resources”, ministers said.

The Home Office has also pledged £100 million for reviewing hundreds of previously closed investigations and a network to track online offenders. It is hoped the funding will build on last year’s record levels of enforcement, with 10,693 prosecutions and 8,681 convictions for child sexual offences.

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Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “The grooming gangs scandal is one of the darkest moments in our country’s history, where the most vulnerable people were abused and exploited at the hands of evil child rapists.

“There will be no hiding place for the predatory monsters who committed unimaginable crimes of child sexual abuse (CSA) and exploitation. We will track down these vile rapists and put them behind bars.”

Meanwhile, the National Crime Agency’s (NCA) Jav Oomer said: “We welcome the continued Home Office funding to support the NCA’s vital work in tackling the highest harm offenders, whether they operate in our communities or online, and will use the full force of our capabilities to protect children.

“We continue to see the increasing complexity and severity of CSA offending, with offenders becoming more technologically sophisticated, but also producing more severe and more sadistic material.”

The Home Secretary's statement comes after Labour's significant backlash over its grooming gangs response having initially dismissed calls for a national public inquiry.

A row erupted last year after X owner Elon Musk waged a war of words against Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer over the UK’s handling of the issue.

Sir Keir then agreed to launch a statutory inquiry into institutional failures after resisting pressure for months.

The grooming gangs inquiry – chaired by Baroness Anne Longfield, a former children’s commissioner for England – will directly examine whether ethnicity, culture or religion influenced offending and whether they shaped the institutional response.

It will look into how grooming gangs operated and how institutions, including the police, local authorities, health services, social care services and schools, responded to abuse.

The inquiry has a maximum duration of three years, with a budget of £65 million and is set to conclude no later than March 2029.