This month ...
Welcome to this month's internet safety update brought to you by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre.
Each year the CEOP Centre releases it's 'Strategic Overview' - an intelligence document that provides an insight into understanding the threat posed by child sexual offenders.
This year's Strategic Overview is based on approximately 5,500 reports received over a 12 month period of which 2,500 came from members of the public using the 'CEOP Report' button. 1,373 reports came from young people themselves of which the majority (89%) related to specific instances of grooming.
Key points
- The online environment is truly converged - where there used to be separate online services such as email, photo sharing, gaming and chat - all these services are now rolled into one environment; further, the internet can be accessed from a range of devices. This means that children and young people are increasingly accessible to offenders: like them, they can access the internet 24/7 from any location.
- There has been an increase in the reports of online abuse in social networking sites - 22% of all reports of abuse compared with 11.4% the previous year.
- CEOP has seen a particular increase in the use of webcams and instant messaging technology to incite a child to perform or to witness a sexual act: 34% of grooming reports made by children under 18 incited a child to perform a sexual act, with 20% inciting a child to watch a sexual act.
- The report highlights a growing trend of offenders using online, private peer to peer networks to communicate with each other, show live-time abuse and share images - with the severity of the sexual contact captured, or the newness of the offence committed, gaining the offender extra kudos with like minded individuals.
The information provided in this document is a must read for parents, as it shows the risks that young people are still taking when online and the change in behaviour of offenders.
To make this information as easily accessible as possible, we have created some audio and visual podcasts that talk through the main points and what implications this has for child safety online. Take a few minutes to listen to these podcasts by following the link www.ceop.police.uk/mediacentre/
strat_overview.asp.
Find out more
Register to receive our bi-monthly e-bulletin which provides information to subscribers on all areas of the work of CEOP. Visit www.ceop.police.uk to find out more.
Help us in the fight to locate missing child sex offenders - register to receive updates when more details are released or new offenders are posted on the site. Visit www.ceop.police.uk/wanted.
What is CEOP again?
CEOP is the police agency specifically set up to tackle the sexual abuse of children in the UK. Find out more about our work at www.ceop.police.uk and register for updates on all areas of our activity.
And finally - did you find this email useful?
If so, please forward it onto friends and family and they can register to receive these emails too - www.ceop.police.uk/parents.
