Record reports of malicious online communications
A RECORD number of social media posts and emails were reported to West Midlands Police as ‘angry and upset’ people went online to voice frustrations.
The force was alerted to an average of 59 malicious communications crimes per day last year.
The offences have been rising across England and Wales since the crime type was first included in police recorded data, from April 2017. And in the West Midlands, police saw a 38 per cent rise between 2020 and 2021 figures.
New stats show a total of 21,440 crimes of this nature in the region last year – the highest number on record and a huge hike from the 15,533 offences the previous year. These are cases where someone has sent an email, a social media post, or any other form of communication that is indecent, grossly offensive, threatening, or contains information that is false or believed to be false.
In almost all completed cases in the region, over 98 per cent, investigations were concluded without anyone receiving any kind of punishment. That was either because of problems with evidence, including the victim not supporting further action, no suspect being identified, or prosecution not deemed ‘in the public interest’.
A mere 0.4 per cent of completed cases resulted in a suspect being charged or summonsed to appear before a court, data suggests.
Ruth Smeeth, a former MP who suffered regular abuse online, said: “I think there are several different reasons why we are where we are. The world has reawakened, sports events are back and there are lots of things going on in the news, so people are seeing more things to be angry about – not that that is an excuse.
“Words are powerful, both for good and for ill. Social media platforms need to take more responsibility and we need our political leaders to set the tone.”
Across England and Wales, there were 198,119 offences of sending malicious communications recorded in 2018.
The Online Safety Bill, which is currently making its way through Parliament, aims to protect young people and clamp down on online abuse, while also “safeguarding freedom of expression”.