POLICE officers from Warrington have attended a course on how to improve ways of preventing child sex abuse.

Cheshire Police is taking part in campaign Stop it Now, aimed at encouraging agencies to work together.

Safeguarding professionals from the town attended the training day on Thursday, along with social workers and the probation service.

DCI Giles Orton, of Cheshire Police, said: “We want to harness the skills and expertise of child care and other professionals to work across the different agencies to see how and where we can improve the way we deal with, investigate and support those children who are survivors of sexual abuse.

Topics discussed at the workshop included female sex abusers; sex offending and the internet and children who display worrying sexual behaviour.

Methods of how agencies can work better together were also put forward.

Donald Findlater, director of Stop it Now, said: “It is vitally important that we all take responsibility for protecting children from sexual abuse and the best way to do this is to prevent it from happening in the first place.

“This training equips those who work with children and families with the indispensable knowledge they need to put preventative measures in place and to protect children from harm.

By learning about how abusers and potential abusers operate, and talking about how multi agency staff can collaborate, helps us play a much more significant role in prevention.”

l The campaign also runs a helpline on 0808 1000 900. For more information go to parentsprotect.co.uk.