Public Servant Lifestyle

A Northumbria Police child abuse expert is to help paediatricians in India understand the importance of working in partnership with police and other agencies.

Detective Sergeant (DS) Julie Tough is part of a delegation arranged by the Royal College of Paediatricians which is travelling to Chennai - formerly known as Madras - and Mumbai - formerly known as Bombay - in January. The group is running a series of workshops for local paediatricians who will then cascade the learning to colleagues.

Pictured (right): Northumbria Police Detective Sergeant Julie Tough.

DS Tough, who has a lengthy experience of working in child protection and domestic abuse, believes experts can only find the truth by sharing knowledge: " I am passionate about working together. It's only when you have all the pieces of a jigsaw that you can make a decision.

"I feel it's far better for doctors to call in the police at the start rather than as a last resort. It's not all about arresting someone and putting them in jail, it's about finding the truth."

DS Tough cites the example of a paediatrician who diagnosed a toddler's scalded ankles as a non-accidental injury. The mother said the child had clambered onto her pushchair and split a kettle of boiling water over her feet.

However, because of the pattern of the injury, the doctor believed the damage was more likely to have been caused by dangling the child's feet into a bowl of hot water and Northumbria Police were informed.

At the family home DS Tough found the buggy in the kitchen, water in its seat and a kettle lying on a wet floor. She called in Scientific Aids to photograph the scene and quickly established the truth of the mum's story.

Training

This is not DS Tough's first experience of delivering training in distant parts of the world. In 1997, she made the first of several trips to Thailand over a four year period, training multi agency groups in child abuse investigation. She has worked on similar Multi Agency programmes in Poland, Mexico and Argentina.

After a two year secondment to the National Centre for Policing Excellence where she helped devise national guidance for child abuse investigation, DS Tough is now based at Northumbria Police headquarters in Ponteland where she is responsible for child protection and domestic abuse. She is deeply involved in the force's 'End the silence' campaign to improve police response to domestic abuse.

The India project was developed by De Neela Shabde, a consultant paediatrician at North Tyneside District General Hospital. She and DS Tough will be accompanied to the sub-continent by Professor Margaret Lynch from King's College Hospital, London, and Mrs Sue Wieteska, chief executive of a Manchester-based education development programme.

More information available in Destinations, Education & Training, Family & Personal