POLICE Scotland has formally unveiled the country's first national specialist unit to tackle child abuse.
The team - based in Livingston but with nationwide hubs - is designed to end a post-code lottery in such investigations.
It is the latest in a series of Scotland-wide units set up over the last two years, including a national centre on rape.
Up and running since January, the National Child Abuse Investigation Unit or NCAIU, have looked in to child deaths, sexual abuse, physical abuse, neglect, online child abuse and grooming.
Chief constable Sir Stephen House, said: "Child abuse, including child sexual exploitation, is a complex, challenging area of policing and we owe it to all those affected, whether now or in the past, to thoroughly investigate each and every report we receive.
"The NCAIU is about providing specialist investigative support. "However, part of our success in delivering child protection is local officers working with their partners in communities throughout Scotland.
"To be clear, the abuse and neglect of children is an issue for all of our communities. This is unacceptable. Children and young people should be allowed to live their lives without the fear of abuse or exploitation.
"We will proactively target those who pose a risk to children and work with our partners to ensure that support is available for victims."
The specialist unit model pioneered by Police Scotland has come under criticism, mostly recently from rank-and-file officers in the Highlands and North-East.
The new child abuse unit, however, was welcomed, Education Secretary Angela Constance.
She said: "The launch of this new police unit should enable more to be done to target, and bring to justice, those who seek to harm children and is a welcome development."
Charities also welcomed the new team. But Paul Carberry, of Action for Children Scotland, warned it was everybody's job, not just the police's, to protect children.
He said: "Adults from all walks of life must be equipped to spot the signs of child sexual exploitation, not just listening to what children are saying but seeing what is evident in their actions or behaviour.
"We need to be aware and vigilant, and ensure that children will be listened to and believed when they raise concerns."
Some believe the new unit will now be so inundated with historic claims that it won't cope. They include Alan Draper of
In Care Abuse Survivors (INCAS). He said: "We're pleased that it's getting off the ground. Our concern as a group is the resources they have been allocated. "
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.Â
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.Â
That is invaluable.Â
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article