London — London is a hotspot of modern slavery, with workers in hotels, restaurants and on construction sites at particular risk of exploitation, said the head of the city’s Metropolitan police’s anti-slavery unit. Modern slavery cases surged in the first half of this year to about 820 by the end of June, compared to about 1,013 in the whole of 2016, detective chief inspector Phil Brewer told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The growth in cases is partly due to increased awareness about slavery, with police and local authorities now more often considering those involved in potential slavery crimes are victims rather than suspects, said Brewer. The Metropolitan police is working closely with charities and frontline workers to ensure victims are more easily identified and helped faster. "Everyone realises now we’re never going to police our way out of this," Brewer said in an interview this week. UK government departments, local authorities and police are investigating whether people i...
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