EIGHTY people in Barnsley have sought help from a charity to stop viewing sexual images of children online.
They visited the Stop It Now! Get Help website in the 12 months from October last year to access online help to stop either their own viewing of online sexual images of children, or that of a loved one.
The Get Help website is operated by Stop it Now!, a sexual abuse prevention campaign run by child protection charity, the Lucy Faithfull Foundation.
It offers self-help tools and resources to help users address their behaviour and stop looking at online sexual images of children. It also provides information and support to partners and friends of people arrested for, or suspected of, accessing online child abuse images.
Coun Margaret Bruff, who responsible for safeguarding at Barnsley Council, said: “Tackling child sexual abuse is an incredibly important, for Barnsley and the rest of our region. I commend the work of this charity for protecting vulnerable children in this way.”
Many of those seeking help have done so thanks to a Stop It Now! public awareness campaign. The campaign has gained significant attention by releasing a series of films to deter those who are already offending, which have been viewed more than 15 million times since October 2015.
The success of the campaign has won praise from the police.
Det Supt Melanie Palin, head of Protecting Vulnerable People at South Yorkshire Police, said: “Our absolute priority is to safeguard vulnerable people from harm and we have dedicated, committed officers across the force who work relentlessly to investigate crimes of this nature.
“There has been an unprecedented increase in the number of reports of child sexual exploitation and abuse received not only by SYP, but by forces across the country, which includes non-recent abuse, online abuse, peer abuse and offences relating to child abuse imagery.
“While the data gathered by Stop It Now suggests that some offenders are seeking support to address their criminal behaviour, we know that there will be many more offenders out there who do not seek help.
“We work closely with partner agencies and law enforcement bodies like the National Crime Agency to locate, investigate and apprehend any individual who views, shares or produces this type of content. We will do everything we can to bring these criminals before the courts and protect those being exploited.”
