Police accused of failing to prioritise online child sexual abuse

● Report by HMICS says the force is not pro-active and lacks a cohesive strategy

Scotland’s national police force is failing to prioritise tackling online child sexual abuse, a damning report has revealed.

A lack of strategy and resource has left police unable to identify the scale, nature and threat to children from online child sexual abuse, while a “traditional focus” on drugs and guns has left the most vulnerable unprotected, according to a review of Police Scotland’s response to the cyber crime.

The report reveals there were 554 crimes relating to indecent images of children recorded by Police Scotland in 2018-19, with 1961 referrals received for online child abuse last year alone, and criticises the force for not being “proactive” on the issue, and lacking a coherent strategy.

Gill Imery, the Chief Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland, who carried out the review, said Police Scotland was too reactive in its response and as a result, had allowed “vigilante groups” to flourish.

She said while there was a “clear commitment” at senior levels to tackling the crime, there was no “overarching strategic response to a growing problem” and the department best placed to respond to online child sexual abuse, Public Protection, had the least resources.

Mrs Imery said: “One of the main proactive tactics would be to deploy undercover online specialist officers, however this does not often happen. If Police Scotland had a more robust approach to its proactive capability, the opportunities for Online Child Abuse Activist Groups to operate would reduce.”

Her report, which also shows that of the 5,600 registered sex offenders in Scotland, 21 per cent have accessed indecent images of children, highlights that online child sexual abuse “rarely features as a priority” when specialist resources are being allocated.

She suggests that specialist support functions now need to focus “on those most in need of protection rather than the more traditional focus on drugs and firearms.”

Joanna Barrett of NSPCC Scotland, said it was vital that Police Scotland now “prioritises online child sexual abuse and invests sufficient resources to effectively tackle this kind of offending.”

Police Scotland said it would “carefully consider” the review recommendations and that protecting children was a “top priority”.

Deputy Chief Constable Malcolm Graham, lead for Crime and Operations, said: “Cyberenabled crime is placing an ever-increasing demand on policing in Scotland and elsewhere.”