The number of online child sex offences recorded by Hampshire Constabulary increased by almost 90% last year, according to figures obtained by the NSPCC.
247 of these crimes were recorded as having a cyber element in 2019/20, compared to 131 in 2018/19.
Nationally the child protection charity has revealed 10,391 child sex crimes were recorded with a cyber flag by all UK forces in 2019/20 – a 16% rise on the previous year.
That takes the total number of recorded offences in the 5 years since it became mandatory to record whether a crime involved the internet to more than 37,000. In Hampshire, that figure stands at 714 online child sex crimes.
However, this figure is likely to significantly understate the true extent of the problem due to potential under-recording by police forces of the role of the internet and variation in the way forces log these crimes.
While the Freedom of Information data does not include the lockdown period, risks to children online increased and Childline counselling sessions on grooming went up.
The charity says this highlights the urgent need for the Government to push forward with the Online Harms Bill, which would place a legal Duty of Care on tech firms to protect children, enforced by an independent regulator.
The NSPCC is calling on the Government to publish its final plans before the end of the year, and get an Online Harms Bill on the statute book by the end of 2021.
Andy Burrows, NSPCC Head of Child Safety Online Policy, said:
“These figures suggest that online abuse was already rising before lockdown, and the risks to children appear to have spiked significantly since.
“It is now almost 17 months since the Government’s original proposals for social media regulation were published and children continue to face preventable harm online.
“At the Hidden Harms Summit, the Prime Minister signalled he was determined to act. That’s why he needs to prioritise making progress on a comprehensive Online Harms Bill this Autumn, and pass legislation by the end of 2021, that sees tech firms held criminally and financially accountable if they put children at risk.”
Strange how as immi gration into the UK rises so do these vile crimes. Only ‘coincidence’ of course, as some are now blameless.
Don’t worry. I’m sure the fascistic, draconian, censorship-ridden “Online Harms Bill” will fix everything.