Hundreds more seek help over child abuse pic habit
THE number of Cheshire people seeking help to stop viewing sexual images of children has increased by a third, a charity has revealed.
National helpline Stop It Now! reports that in 2019 a total of 891 residents of the county made contact to address these issues.
This represents a 33% increase from 2018, which saw 668 contacts with the charity.
Stop It Now! helps people address their illegal and damaging online behaviour and stop viewing sexual images of under-18s, with a newly refreshed self-help website – www.stopitnow.org.uk
The charity’s confidential helpline – 0808 1000 900 – supports people worried about their own sexual thoughts, feelings and behaviour towards children – either for themselves or someone close to them.
Run by an experienced team of trained advisors, callers to the helpline agree actions they will take to stop their illegal online behaviour in both the short and long term.
Advisors also explore with callers – both those offending and their adult family members – the possibility of any direct risks to children, including in the caller’s own family, to ensure these children are protected.
Calls remain confidential and anonymous, unless identifying details are given and a child is at risk of harm or a crime has been committed.
The surge in people contacting the Stop It Now! helpline follows the charity’s recent successful campaigning efforts, including with police forces across the North West.
The campaign aims to highlight the consequences of viewing child sex abuse images, including loss of job and family life, being imprisoned and registered as a sex offender, while pointing to help for people to change their illegal behaviour.
Building on their efforts, the charity is promoting two new online films to encourage people who view sexual images of under-18s online, or are at risk of doing so, to seek help.
Viewing and sharing indecent images of children online is a major problem in the UK and globally. In 2018 the National Crime Agency estimated 80,000 people in the UK posed a sexual threat to children online.
Police forces around the UK make around 520 arrests each month relating to illegal online behaviour. Many of these arrested people go on to contact Stop It Now! to start dealing with their behaviour.
More than 188,000 people in the UK have used the Stop It Now! website since 2015.
Donald Findlater, director of the Stop It Now! helpline, said: “Tens of thousands of men in the UK are viewing and sharing sexual images of under-18s. These men are our friends, family, neighbours and colleagues. Most are adults, but a significant proportion are teenagers.
“Many of these men started viewing this illegal material as part of their adult pornography habit, somehow not noticing or perhaps caring that these were images of children being abused. Some don’t know the law and need it spelling out.
“Whoever they are, they need to know this behaviour is illegal, it is not a victimless crime and viewing the images creates demand for more. Serious consequences await those involved in this behaviour, but our helpline and website give anonymous, and confidential support and advice to stop and stay stopped.
“We help everyone be part of the solution to this problem. We hope to help thousands more in 2020.”
Det Chf Supt Emily Higham, from the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit, said: “Tackling this horrendous crime is our priority and a national priority, together with our partners we are using all available resources to arrest more offenders, safeguard more children and where possible, prevent offending in the first place.
“Anyone who is concerned about the online habits of someone they know should seek help from Stop It Now.”