Independent Police Complaints Commission
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“Failures” by Essex Police let down victims

The IPCC has concluded that high workload and low staffing within Essex Police’s Online Investigation Team (POLIT) meant Martin Goldberg was only identified as a risk to children eight months after intelligence was received through which he could have been identified.

The investigation concluded the POLIT was poorly resourced to deal with its high workload, with low staffing levels and this contributed to action not being taken earlier.

There was a lack of dedicated managerial presence within the POLIT at the time the referral was received and while in some areas Essex police complied with national and local policies, in other areas it did not.

IPCC investigators found that Essex Police did not have procedures in place to check an individual’s access to children at work upon receiving intelligence packages, something recommended in national guidelines. Although the force acted once it knew Mr Goldberg worked in a school, this was eight months after the intelligence had been received.

A failure to conduct a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check when the intelligence was first received meant that it was not determined early enough that Mr Goldberg had access to children through his work.

IPCC Commissioner Mary Cunneen said: “My first thoughts are with Mr Goldberg’s victims and their families. They have been let down by the failures of Essex Police.

“We have made strong recommendations to the force about improvements to their policies and procedures that must be made to ensure that mistakes of this nature are not made in the future. Essex Police have accepted these recommendations and have changed the way they conduct DBS checks and reviewed the POLIT.”

The IPCC also investigated a complaint about how officers questioned Mr Goldberg at his home without arresting him and prior to Mr Goldberg committing suicide. The investigation found that there was not sufficient evidence that the visit was inappropriate in the absence of a search warrant and that officers could not have predicted the events that followed.

A copy of the final report can be found here.

Channel website: https://policeconduct.gov.uk/

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