- A Freedom of Information request to police forces in England and Wales showed there were at least 4,373 offences of sexual communication with a child recorded in the year to April 2019 compared with 3,217 in the previous year.
Whilst we are all required to stay at home and away from others, communication links we have via the internet, mobile phones, landlines and social media have become a lifeline.
However, we know that predatory people are increasingly targeting not only children and ‘adults at risk’ but all of us. To help to keep your children and yourselves safe remember:
1. Take the time to be interested in what is happening online with children, young people or adults at risk.
- who are they are communicating with and what are those people's credentials?
- what are they communicating and why?
- do the people they are communicating with have the correct qualifications for the activity/undertaking?
- talk to them daily about what they are doing online and if they are enjoying it
2. Explain to them some of the issues which may arise when connecting with others. To get help with this/starting a conversation about the issues go to online safety and internet connected devices
3. Be aware of the scams that have increasingly appeared in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. It is all too easy for children and young people, as well as adults, to be inadvertently caught up in a scam. To find out more about how to protect and report visit
If you have any questions not covered here please e-mail crisis.questions@safecic.co.uk and we will get back to you with 48 hours, usually sooner.
For other concerns follow SAFEcic's eSafety Referral Flowchart
4. There are some excellent tools on the internet to help with all of these issues. One such is the CSA Toolkit.
This was created by Thinkuknow, which is the educational programme by the NCA-CEOP team. There are other worthwhile resources on their website.
IF YOU HAVE AN URGENT CONCERN ABOUT SAFETY OF A CHILD OR ‘ADULT AT RISK’, DO NOT DELAY: DIAL 999
FOLLOW THE GOVERNMENT INSTRUCTION: BE ALERT & STAY SAFE.
