New West Mercia Police campaign highlights growing child sex abuse issue
Police and a child protection charity are launching a new three-pronged campaign to raise awareness of the growing issue of people who look at child sexual abuse images online.
West Mercia Police has teamed up with child protection charity Stop It Now! to put across the chilling message that offenders can be friends, family, neighbours and colleagues – even children themselves.
They are putting across a three-pronged message, to perpetrators, to the victims and to the public to raise awareness of the issue.
Michael Sheath, principal practitioner and expert in child sexual abuse prevention at Stop It Now!, said: “Most of the people looking at this illegal content aren’t the stereotypes that the public would expect – they are our friends, family, neighbours and colleagues.
"Some of them are just children themselves, but that doesn’t stop the behaviour from being illegal.
"Many of these individuals start out with an increasing adult legal pornography habit, but then begin looking for riskier and extreme material."
More than 2,100 people from Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire sought help through a confidential helpline or by visiting the self-help website in 2021 to address concerns about their own, or a family or friend’s online behaviours.
West Mercia Police and Stop It Now! – run by The Lucy Faithfull Foundation – will be delivering a campaign over the next week designed to raise awareness of, and prevent, Online Child Sexual Exploitation (OCSE).
The initiative coincides with National Child Sexual Exploitation Awareness Day on Friday March 18.
Stop It Now! is the only UK-wide charity dedicated to preventing child sexual abuse and focuses on takes a preventative approach to stopping abuse happening in the first place, online and offline.
The charity works with all those affected including adult male and female abusers; young people with harmful sexual behaviour; children with concerning sexual behaviours; victims of abuse, as well as other family members to offer support.
Their campaign aims to prevent online viewing of sexual images of under 18s by telling people about the harm caused to victims, the consequences of offending including arrest and job loss, and the Stop It Now! provides free, anonymous, and confidential support the Stop It Now! helpline and online self-help offers offenders and their families helping offenders to stop offending and helping family members to spot the signs and seek advice..
Detective Chief Inspector Tony Garner said: “The objective of this campaign is to send a message to offenders, to victims and to the wider public.
“To offenders we want to say - you are causing terrible harm to children and you are not safe online. You could be the next person we target; which could see us carry out a search warrant and arrest you which could lead to prison and your name added to the sex offenders register. Stop it now. If you can’t then get anonymous and confidential help @StopItNowUK or on 0808 1000 900.
“To victims we want to say - we will listen to you, support you and help you. No blame. No judgement but if you don’t feel you can speak to the police yet then you can contact Childline anonymously on 0800 1111.
“To the wider public we want to say - this is a really serious and growing threat to children. Offenders come from all walks of life as do the children targeted and online offending can quickly lead to physical sexual abuse in the “real” world. We need you to be alert to the risks so that you can help protect children and identify adults that might pose a risk.
“It’s crucially important that the message is clearly understood: we will not stop in our pursuit of those individuals sexually exploiting children online or in person.
“Supporting our enforcement activity will be a week of media and social media messaging that will support our ongoing activities, themes for discussion and issues we think people need to be more aware of.
“West Mercia Police remains committed to protecting children from all forms of child sexual abuse and we will not stop bringing offenders of this abhorrent crime to justice.
“We want all offenders to consider the devastating impact that this crime has on their victims as well as the consequences for themselves and their families when they are caught. Our partnership with Stop It Now! is vital in raising awareness of child protection as well as giving offenders the opportunity to seek help before harming others further.”
Across the UK, including in Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Shropshire, there is a growing problem of people viewing and sharing sexual images of under 18s online.
The campaign aims to make people understand that viewing and sharing this material is illegal, that many of the images are of children being abused, and that those looking at or sharing them are causing harm and risk arrest, prosecution and being put on the sex offenders’ register.
The Stop It Now! helpline and website provide anonymous and confidential support and advice to help stop this behaviour.
It also supports friends and family worried about a loved one’s behaviour online, so that they can get the support they need at an early stage.
"No-one has to deal with it alone – we can help, just as we have helped tens of thousands of people in this position over recent years," said the charity's Michael Sheath.
