Devon & Cornwall Police News site

Anyone concerned about their, or someone else's, online behaviour can contact the confidential Stop It Now helpline to prevent child sexual abuse – before it happens.

• This campaign looks to highlight a major and concerning issue for the country as a whole. In 2023 nearly 218,000 people contacted the Stop It Now helpline or its Get Help online self-help resources with concerns about their sexual thoughts or behaviour towards children.

A host of organisations in the region, including NHS Devon, Royal Devon University Healthcare Trust, Devon Safeguarding Children Partnership, Devon and Cornwall Sexual Assault Referral Centre, Together for Childhood Plymouth, Devon & Torbay Probation Services,  Cornwall Council, Devon and Cornwall Sexual Health Referral Centres, Our Safeguarding Children Partnership for Cornwall and the NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board and Devon and Cornwall Police are collaborating with national helpline, Stop It Now, on a local campaign to deter online child sexual abuse across Devon and Cornwall. Stop It Now is a project of child protection charity, the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, which works exclusively to prevent child sexual abuse.

In light of the vast scale of the problem of people viewing sexual images of children online, the campaign aims to raise awareness that viewing sexual images of under-18s is illegal, causes huge harm to children, and that there are serious consequences for the viewer including potential arrest, imprisonment and job loss. But there is confidential help available to stop via Stop It Now.

The campaign, which will run throughout March 2024, follows news that 217,889 people from across the UK visited the Stop It Now Get Help online self-help resources or contacted the Stop It Now helpline from across the country last year. 13,296 of these people concerned about their own or a family member’s online sexual behaviour towards children were from Devon and Cornwall. The campaign looks to raise awareness of the scale and nature of online child sexual abuse in the local area, which includes viewing sexual images of under-18s and online sexual grooming.

The Stop It Now campaign will communicate its messages through webinars* for all multi-agency partners and also use print, broadcast and social media to reach the general public. The campaign signposts anyone in Devon and Cornwall with concerns about their online behaviour to the anonymous and confidential Stop It Now helpline to prevent child sexual abuse – before it happens.

Last year’s campaign saw visits from Devon to the Stop It Now Get Help self-help website increase by 67% compared with the same period in the previous year, and almost treble in Cornwall.

This is part of the Lucy Faithfull Foundation’s online child sexual abuse deterrence campaign which recently gained more than 180 pieces of coverage in the national media shining a light on the issue of online child sexual abuse, including images generated by artificial intelligence.

Donald Findlater, Director of the Stop It Now helpline, says: “Frontline workers and researchers, both at home and overseas, recognise that child sexual abuse has reached epidemic proportions, with over 1 in ten children experiencing sexual abuse. This is as much a tragedy in Devon as it is elsewhere. But it is also preventable, and most prevention needs to start at home and in our local communities.

This March campaign in Devon and Cornwall brings a focus to online child sexual abuse – viewing and sharing sexual images of under-18s and sexual grooming of children. And we are thrilled to have the active support of so many local agencies committed to preventing child sexual abuse across the county.

The confidential Stop It Now helpline is open and keen to speak or live chat with anyone from Devon or Cornwall concerned about possible child sexual abuse, whether online or offline. This includes adults worried about a loved one’s sexual behaviour towards children. It also includes anyone worried about their own sexual thoughts or behaviour towards children.

Those viewing sexual images of under 18s online need to know that such behaviour is illegal and causes great harm. There are grave consequences once your behaviour is detected by police. But there is help to stop and to stay stopped. Contact Stop It Now on 0808 1000 900 or visit  www.stopitnow.org.uk for anonymous advice and support.” 

Steve Parker, Devon and Cornwall Police Temporary Assistant Chief Constable, said: “We are very pleased to support the work of the Lucy Faithfull Foundation in not only highlighting online child sexual abuse, but providing a mechanism by which it can be tackled, through the Stop It Now helpline.

What anyone who views sexual images of children needs to understand is that lasting harm has been caused to those children in creating those images.  Watching them drives demand and so perpetuates and encourages further harm and abuse. Viewing sexual images of children is of course illegal, and anyone doing it should also understand that if caught and charged this will have a devastating effect on them, their family and their friends.

“While the numbers of people contacting the Stop It Now helpline with concerns about their own or someone else’s sexual thoughts or behaviour towards children may sound horrendous, what it does mean is that people are realising the harm caused by this and are reaching out for help. We encourage anyone who has concerns to report them, and get on a path of help and support to end this most horrific of crimes. Literally, to Stop It Now.”

Louise Barraclough, Lead Nurse and Safeguarding Lead, Devon & Cornwall Sexual Assault Referral Centres said: “Devon and Cornwall Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARC) is a place of hope and healing for children who have been sexually abused, an important start to their therapeutic journey as well as the part we play in the criminal justice process. We work tirelessly with all of our multi-agency partners in ensuring a consistent and coordinated response to child sexual abuse for both contact and online offences.

Sadly, the numbers of child victims who we know about are only the tip of the iceberg - only 1 in8 sexually abused children come to the attention of anyone at the time of the abuse.

We need to do more in terms of the recognition of and responses to child sexual abuse, as well as to its prevention. We are determined to create a culture which enables children to speak and to be heard. We are committed to supporting the March campaign and to signposting anyone with concerns about their own or someone else’s sexual thoughts or behaviour to the Stop It Now confidential helpline.

The collective silence around child sexual abuse has to stop, - the only people benefitting from this silence are the perpetrators.”

Penny Smith, Interim Chief Nurse, NHS Devon Integrated Care Board, said: “NHS Devon is committed to working collaboratively with partners to protect children from sexual abuse. The trauma of sexual abuse is significant, it impacts upon children’s health and wellbeing, upon families and upon our communities.

Without the right support, we know that trauma can have lasting impacts into adulthood.  We recognise the opportunities that health practitioners have to identify children at risk and ensure that they are safeguarded. It is important that we also take a proactive, preventative approach and do all we can to reach those at risk of harming children.

If you are concerned about your own thoughts or that of someone close to you, there is confidential, professional help available to address this before a child is harmed.”

Louise Arscott, Head of Devon and Torbay Probation, said: “We know that many people can benefit from being aware of the help available to them should they be having worrying sexual thoughts about children – so we can prevent offending before it starts.

If you are at risk of offending, get in touch with the helpline before you harm someone and before you come to the attention of the criminal justice system.

In our day-to-day work, we encourage people who have already been through court, to use the Stop It Now helpline to support them once they have completed their sentence.”

Shelley Shaw, Development and Impact Manager at Together for Childhood Plymouth, said: “New and emerging technology is creating more opportunities for children to be sexually abused which is why we continue to support the Stop It Now campaign.

Whilst the recent Online Safety Act is designed to make tech companies more accountable and responsible for the content placed on their platforms there is also an increasing need to help people who are concerned about their own thoughts and behaviours and to give them access to support to prevent them from offending.

“The success of the previous two Stop It Now campaigns in Plymouth have shown that people do access confidential help and advice when they know about it

We hope that this latest campaign aimed at prevention will help more people across Devon and Cornwall.”

Cllr Carol Mould, Portfolio Holder – Community Safety, Cornwall Council, said: “Cornwall is committed to working collaboratively with partners to protect children from sexual abuse. The trauma of this abuse is significant - it impacts children’s health and wellbeing, families and communities.

Without the right support, we know that trauma can have lasting impacts into adulthood. Practitioners across multiple agencies can identify children at risk and ensure that they are safeguarded. It is important that we take a proactive, preventative approach and do all we can to reach those at risk of harming children.”

Louise Barraclough, Lead Nurse and Safeguarding Lead, Devon & Cornwall Sexual Assault Referral Centres said: “Devon and Cornwall Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARC) is a place of hope and healing for children who have been sexually abused, an important start to their therapeutic journey as well as the part we play in the criminal justice process. We work tirelessly with all of our multi-agency partners in ensuring a consistent and coordinated response to child sexual abuse for both contact and online offences.

Sadly, the numbers of child victims who we know about are only the tip of the iceberg - only 1 in8 sexually abused children come to the attention of anyone at the time of the abuse.

We need to do more in terms of the recognition of and responses to child sexual abuse, as well as to its prevention. We are determined to create a culture which enables children to speak and to be heard. We are committed to supporting the March campaign and to signposting anyone with concerns about their own or someone else’s sexual thoughts or behaviour to the Stop It Now confidential helpline.

The collective silence around child sexual abuse has to stop, - the only people benefitting from this silence are the perpetrators.”

We hope that this latest campaign aimed at prevention will help more people across Devon and Cornwall.”