A joint approach
Monday, 26 June, 2017
Six police forces across Eastern England launched Operation NetSafe on Monday 8 May, 2017 in a bid to tackle online viewing of child sexual abuse images.
In October last year, National Police Chiefs' Council lead on Child Protection and Chief Constable of Norfolk Police, Simon Bailey, announced that more than 100,000 individuals from across the UK were regularly accessing indecent images of children (IIOC) online. Operation NetSafe has been launched to tackle this growing threat in Eastern England with forces from Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire taking part.
The operation is being conducted in partnership with child protection charity, The Lucy Faithfull Foundation. Their staff, including former probation officers, social workers, psychologists and police officers, help prevent child sexual abuse through work with victims, families and sex offenders themselves.
The foundation also works with the public to help them play their part in protecting children via the UK-wide 'Stop it Now!' campaign. This directs offenders, potential offenders and their concerned loved ones to a confidential and anonymous helpline and online self-help resources, enabling them to address any concerning behaviour.
Operation NetSafe represents a new, multi-agency approach to address demand for child sexual abuse images by bringing together the detection and law enforcement work of the police with the prevention work of The Lucy Faithfull Foundation and 'Stop it Now!'.
The operation will include a public awareness campaign using traditional media, social media, posters and other public relations activities to communicate key deterrence messages to offenders and potential offenders. Messages will include: children in the images are real children who are abused each time their image is viewed; that there are severe consequences for those who view such images, including arrest, loss of job, prison, family or relationship break-downs and being put on the Sex Offenders Register.
Welcoming the launch of Operation NetSafe in Eastern England, Norfolk's Chief Constable and National Police Chiefs' Council Lead for Child Protection, Simon Bailey said: "Police services across the UK are dealing with an unprecedented volume of child sexual abuse reports, including online indecent images and these numbers continue to rise.
"Child sexual abuse is a crime and so is possessing images of that abuse. Often offenders convince themselves that as the images already exist there isn't a victim as they don't have direct contact with the children or young people involved. But these children were abused and exploited to make these images and are further victimised every time those images are viewed.
"Police forces are responding to the threat, and we have to consider different approaches such as rehabilitation and treatments as well as prosecution to deal with offenders to ensure children are safeguarded.
"I am delighted that Norfolk and the other five police forces in the region have joined forces with the charity the Lucy Faithfull Foundation.
"Together, we are committed to protecting the most vulnerable in our communities and to put a stop to online child sexual abuse and exploitation."
