Special team set up to tackle cyber-related child sex crimes in West Mercia
West Mercia Police says it has created a dedicated team targeting child abuse and exploitation online and takes reports seriously.
It comes after it emerged yesterday that cyber-related child sex crimes recorded by the force almost doubled in a year.
Figures from the NSPCC showed offences soared from 114 in 2015/16 to 213 in 2016/17.
But Detective Superintendent Adrian McGee, from West Mercia Police, said the statistics did not come as a shock.
He said: "I am not surprised that the NSPCC has identified an increase in the recording of offences against children over the last 12 months, as in the West Mercia Police area we have created a dedicated team of officers to combat child abuse and exploitation by targeting those who offend online.
"The implementation of these teams means that we are now more equipped and skilled than ever to target offenders, which is what we will continue to do."
The figures released by the children's charity showed the majority of victims in West Mercia were aged between 13 and 15, but 10 of them were aged 10 or younger.
Statistics for England and Wales revealed that police are recording an average of 15 internet-related sex crimes against children a day.
Detective Superintendent McGee said protecting children was a "priority" for the force.
He added: "It is well understood that advances in technology make it easier than ever to share images using smart phones and for those images to be shared with other people, this has contributed towards a rise in cyber-related child sex abuse crimes.
"There are people who will use the internet to groom, trawling social media and gaming sites looking for people to target and exploit and those who download and share indecent images of children.
"It is those offenders that we are targeting to protect the children.
“West Mercia Police takes all reports of child abuse very seriously, we also have dedicated and specialist teams to deal with these cases, and we work together with other agencies and local safeguarding children boards, to achieve this protection."
It is the second year police have been required to record, or ‘cyber flag’, any crime that involved the internet.
The NSPCC has called on the next government to make online safety a top priority.
The charity wants an independent regulator to monitor firms and fine them where they fail.
It also says the government must draw up minimum protection standards.
