Call for action as NI cases related to online grooming of children soar
A top charity is calling for new laws to tackle online grooming – after it was revealed crimes of sexual communication with a child had quadrupled in Northern Ireland.
NSPCC NI is also urging politicians to draw up a “robust and workable” E-Safety strategy as part of an all-round plan to ensure better protection for children here.
It comes after the PSNI recorded 82 offences of sexual communication with a child last year – four times more than the previous 12 months.
Charity Policy manager Colin Reid, said: “It is important to remember that every single sexual message sent to a child is abuse, which can leave a lasting impact for years to come.
“Social networks have self-regulated and it’s absolutely clear that children have been harmed as a result. We would urge the UK government to follow through on their promise and introduce safety rules backed up in law and enforced by an independent regulator with fining powers. Social networks must be forced to design extra protections for children into their platforms, including algorithms to detect online grooming to prevent communicating with children from escalating into something even worse.
“We would also urge our local politicians, when we gain a new executive, to think of a robust and workable E-Safety strategy to drive this forward locally. We know that the online world is not easy to regulate, but we cannot be complacent when we are talking about child abuse.”