Leicestershire Police is to review its handling of child sexual abuse allegations dating back 25 years in the wake of the Rotherham scandal.
Police and Crime Commissioner Sir Clive Loader has asked the force to examine how officers had investigated and resolved allegations of sexual exploitation and grooming as far back as 1990.
Sir Clive announced today he had asked the force to launch the review earlier this month as the scale of the South Yorkshire scandal became clear.
Professor Alexis Jay's report last month revealed that public authorities in Rotherham had not listened to young women who were groomed and abused over several years.
The report established that 1,400 young women had been abused.
The revelations led to the eventual resignation of the South Yorkshire police and crime commissioner, Shaun Wright, who had been a senior councillor with responsibility for young people's services in the period the abuse was taking place.
Sir Clive has asked the force to provide some preliminary results of its investigation by the end of the year.
He said: "I want to reassure local communities that any allegations made to the force in this area have been handled appropriately.
"In my view doing nothing in the aftermath of the Rotherham report is not an option. This is, without doubt, the right thing to do.
"The public, quite rightly, want assurance that we are providing adequate safeguards to the young people of this area, while victims and those at risk of abuse must have confidence to come forward, secure in the knowledge that they will be taken seriously and treated with sensitivity.
"Those who may harbour concerns regarding allegations of a historical nature should now have faith that the action taken at the time is being re-examined.
"And, while this is in no-way a fault-finding mission, should we see areas where improvements can be made, that would clearly be an added benefit."
Sir Clive gave details of the review in public for the first time yesterday when he addressed the police and crime panel – a committee, chiefly of councillors, which was appointed to scrutinise his policies.
Sir Clive told the panel that Leicestershire Police has conducted a number of successful prosecutions of people who had sexually exploited and abused children.
A number of investigations are currently ongoing, he added.
Chief Constable Simon Cole said: "I fully understand the commissioner seeking these reassurances.
"Work is underway so that we can carry out a proportionate assessment of how allegations may have been handled by the force in the past."
A senior officer is overseeing the work and will report to Sir Clive, through the Chief Constable.
