Paedophiles caught with videos and pictures of children being sexually abused should not always face charges or jail, police chief says

Chief constable Simon Bailey said an increase in the reporting of sexual abuse has led to the policing system reaching "saturation point".
Patrick Grafton-Green28 February 2017

Paedophiles caught looking at images or vidoes of youngsters being sexually abused should not always be charged or jailed, Britain’s top child protection officer has argued.

Chief Constable Simon Bailey said police should only focus on those who pose a physical threat to youngsters.

He admitted many would be horrified by this, but said police lack the resources to deal with online and historical cases of child abuse as well as current crimes.

An increase in reporting of sexual abuse – including historical cases – has led to the policing system reaching “saturation point”, he added.

“The numbers are continuing to rise,” he told the Times. “We have reached saturation point... The police service has responded to the threat but it has now reached that point whereby we have to try and turn the tide. We have to look at alternatives.”

In the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal there a sharp increase in historical abuse reports.

Police receive an average of 112 complaints a day and there are more than 70,000 investigations a year.

Mr Bailey, chief constable of Norfolk Police and lead on child protection at the National Police Chiefs Council, said options included giving counselling and rehabilitation to lower level offenders.

Officers could then focus on the most dangerous offenders who have access to youngsters or are directing abuse online.

He told The Times: “Let’s be really clear: somebody going online and using their credit card to direct the abuse of a child in the Philippines should be locked up, categorically.

“That individual who is not in contact with children and doesn’t pose a threat to children and is looking at low-level images... when you look at everything else that’s going on, and the threat that’s posed of contact abuse to children, we have to look at doing something different with those individuals.”

The NSPCC agreed the volume of crime makes prosecuting everyone difficult.

An spokeswoman said: “We cannot arrest our way out of the situation – if we are to stem this tide and protect more children we must make prevention and rehabilitation a priority.

“With the right support we can prevent offenders from abusing and help those who do harm children change their behaviour.”

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