Police struggle with rise in sex abuse image cases

A police force is struggling to keep up with a growing number of cases involving images of children being sexually abused, inspectors have said.

Avon and Somerset Police said it was dealing with 73 cases a month on average – and expects that figure to double next year to 140.

A recent inspection of the force found that its team for investigating images of child abuse was understaffed, and officers felt overworked.

Chief Constable Sarah Crew said officers had been redeployed to the team in recent weeks. "I think we're going to need to continue to grow in this area," she said.

But Ms Crew added: "It's not just about volume. As our digital world becomes more complex, how we respond also becomes more complex.

"It requires real specialism."

Ms Crew was speaking last week in response to questions from police and crime commissioner Clare Moody on how to address the rising number of cases, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

She told the commissioner: "Over the last 28 days we've resolved 140 referrals. That's halved our backlogs... We're expecting this to grow and grow and grow.

"But what we're doing may not be that visible to the public, who expect to see uniformed officers walking around."

The work involves identifying and arresting those who have downloaded images.

The inspectors, from His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, called on police chiefs to invest more resources to cope with cases involving child sex abuse images.

The inspection found that several cases at Avon and Somerset had remained unresolved for months, and the team had just one officer identifying victims.

Ms Crew said that technology could be used to better support the force's team.

"The constant reviewing of images for hours on end is very hard on a human," she said.

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