The police response to online child sexual abuse and exploitation
is too often leaving vulnerable children at risk - and allowing
offenders to escape justice, a new report has found.
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue
Services (HMICFRS) found that while officers are generally good
at dealing with very high-risk cases, forces are often not
properly responding to allegations or concerns about suspects,
leading to unacceptable delays and missed opportunities. And many
forces often wait too long before sharing information with
partners, which means they can miss opportunities to refer
children and families for support.
Inspectors found examples of police taking up to 18 months to
make an arrest after becoming aware children were at risk of
abuse.
HMICFRS said that while offences were increasing at a rapid rate,
forces were unable to keep up and chief constables are not doing
enough to properly understand the scale of the problem.
The inspectorate concluded that much more needs to be done to
ensure a consistent national approach - including tighter
controls on the internet.
It has made 17 recommendations to chief constables, policing
bodies and the Government, including:
- introducing regional collaboration and oversight structures;
- introducing proper guidance for officers and staff;
- chief constables ensuring officers and staff are fully
trained for their roles;
- ensuring forces can obtain search warrants quickly when
children are at risk; and
- online safety legislation should require the relevant
companies to develop and use tools and technologies to identify
child sexual abuse material and stop it getting on the internet.
His Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary Wendy Williams
said:
"Online child sexual abuse and exploitation are heinous and
insidious crimes that can destroy the lives of victims and their
families, and policing cannot afford to wait any longer to
improve its response.
"We are in no doubt of the commitment and dedication of the
overwhelming majority of frontline investigators. But they are
being let down by the lack of a consistent and effective national
approach to tackling this issue.
“There is a lack of minimum investigative standards or training,
and this means some forces aren’t responding quickly or
sufficiently to allegations of abuse. Forces do not fully
understand the scale of the problem, so there aren’t enough
resources dedicated to these investigations.
“The Online Safety Bill represents a critical opportunity to
tackle the growing amount of child sexual abuse material
available online. However, chief constables cannot wait for this
to be in place. They need to do more now to understand the demand
on their forces and the risks posed by offenders.
“We have made 17 recommendations for chief constables, policing
bodies and the Government to tackle online child sexual abuse and
exploitation and would urge them to implement these without
delay.”
