Report Summary
This report provides members of the Policing Performance Committee with an overview of an overview of the Progress Towards HMICS Recommendations in respect of Policing Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation.
To provide members with an overview of progress made by Police Scotland in response to the Recommendations made by HMICS in its Strategic Review of Police Scotland’s Response to Online Child Sexual Abuse & Exploitation published in February 2020 and its subsequent progress review, HMICS’ Review of Online Child Sexual Abuse, published in August 2021.
To access the full document please open the PDF document above.
To view as accessible content please use the sections below. (Note that tables and some appendixes are not available as accessible content).
Meeting
The publication discussed was referenced in the meeting below
Policing Performance Committee - 7 December 2022
Date : 07 December 2022
Location : online
Demand
The progress outlined is set against a backdrop of sustained increases in OCSAE cases. Like all UK Law Enforcement, Police Scotland continues to experience increased volume. Based on 2022/23 Q2 performance statistics, 936 online child sexual abuse crimes were recorded in Scotland, an increase of 6.4% on the five year mean. Police Scotland’s detection rate for this period is 68.4%, an increase of 2.4% on the five year mean.
Certain types of OCSAE referrals, known as industry or volume referrals, originate from the US National Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and are referred into Police Scotland via the National Crime Agency (NCA). These referrals have risen significantly in recent years:
Child At Risk (CAR) investigations also comprise a significant but lesser proportion of the demand flowing from OCSAE referrals and have also increased significantly in recent years. CAR currently comprise circa 28% of the overall NOCAP investigations. The acceleration in demand in recent years is assessed to be closely related to the increasing prevalence of SGII (self-generated indecent imagery).
NOCAP investigations vary significantly in complexity, some being comparatively straightforward, whilst others can be hugely complex, with cross jurisdictional dynamics requiring protracted investigation. Many can lead to real time child protection enquiries requiring immediate safeguarding.
NOCAP investigations do not account for the significant number of OCSAE investigations that arise from calls from members of the public. It is more challenging to quantify these definitively. Routine daily monitoring by the National Child Abuse Investigation Unit (NCAIU) typically shows between 4 and 10 such calls daily, but assumes accurate placement of ‘Cyber’ or ‘OCSAE’ markers on systems to allow such incidents to be identified. Another feature is that a report of a contact sexual offence might not highlight that initial contact was in fact online.
Both types (industry referrals and calls from the public) are reflected in the 6.4% increase in OCSAE crimes for 2022/23 Q2 against the 5 year mean.
