A hard-hitting campaign targeting perpetrators of online child sexual abuse is being launched by police warning they are “just one click away from losing everything”.
Almost a quarter of registered sex offenders carried out online sexual abuse of children, according to a snapshot taken by Police Scotland this month.
Officers said anecdotal evidence suggests there has been an increase in such crimes which include live streaming of abuse, possession and sharing of indecent images of children, grooming for sexual purposes and online or webcam sexual extortion.
The new campaign, being launched on Tuesday, aims to make it clear to perpetrators that their actions will have life-changing consequences for them and their families.
It also contains a message from children under the hashtag #NotMyFriend and aims to encourage youngsters to be sceptical as those who groom or manipulate them often pretend to be the child’s friend at the start.
Assistant Chief Constable Gillian MacDonald said: “We want to speak directly to perpetrators to make it clear that with the click of a mouse, they risk losing everything.
“Any form of online child sexual abuse is a serious criminal offence.
“The internet does not provide anonymity – there is no hiding place.”
Children who feature in the campaign images state: “Thinking of sexually abusing children like me online? You’re one click away from losing everything.”
The campaign highlights opportunities for perpetrators or those concerned about their sexual thoughts regarding children to seek help.
Police Scotland is working with Stop It Now! – an online child sexual abuse prevention organisation which manages a confidential helpline designed to help adults with such concerns and can be contacted on 0131 556 3535.
Ms MacDonald stressed that online abuse is not a victimless crime and that child victims, from infants to teenagers, are suffering around the world.
She said: “Every single image shared of child sexual abuse has come from a child somewhere in the world that’s been abused to obtain that image, so it is in no way a victimless crime
“I see the sharing of images as being absolutely as serious as the abuse itself.”
One perpetrator who viewed indecent images, speaking anonymously, urged people to seek help before they commit any crime.
He said: “A couple of days before my birthday, at around eight in the morning, the result of not reaching out for help came to visit me in the clothes of the Police Scotland cyber crime team.
“My life changed completely in an instant.
“I wish I had made that change for myself, I wish I had seen not just the harm that these images had done to the very real people in them or the very real harm they were doing to me personally, but also the harm to relationships with family and friends.”
The campaign, which features social media messages and online advertising posters, launches on Tuesday.
Police said support for children is also available through Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) command and other support organisations.
Anyone worried about online abuse can contact Police Scotland on 101 or www.ceop.police.uk or 999 in an emergency.
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.
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.
That is invaluable.
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 here