Police can’t keep up with child abuse in smartphone age

SCOTLAND YARD is being forced to ignore paedophiles operating online after the rise of smartphones produced an overwhelming wave of child abuse.

More than 17,000 abuses were recorded last year, Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt said, as he de- scribed the “frightening” new landscape of grooming and abuse.

He admitted officers now faced the “hideous choice” of deciding which of 400 online abuse incidents every month should be investigated.

Hewitt said the threat of abuse, grooming and radicalisation was growing due to the rise in smartphones.

About 1,500 children in London have been identified as being at risk of sexual exploitation, another 8,100 “very young” children are on protection plans because of the risk of violence or abuse and 400 cases of people viewing child abuse images are being uncovered every month.

Mr Hewitt described the figure as “staggering”. He added: “We simply shouldn’t take resources away from protecting children we know are under a physical threat to pursue every single last online case.

“It’s a hideous choice to make for officers but short of putting every single one of our officers on to this, it’s a choice we have to make.”