Surrey Police Using Social Media to Raise Awareness of Child Exploitation
The force have posted on Twitter and used a TikTok video to reach younger members of the community.
Surrey Police have utilised social media platforms to raise awareness about the signs of child exploitation and when or why you should report it.
After finding evidence that child exploitation takes place in hotels, pubs, internet cafes as well as many other places, the force decided to use social media and a video campaign to engage with the community.
The aim of the campaign is to use the short video to provide a 'shock factor', to make the warning signs obvious to their audience and to lead to the community working with the force to identify suspicious behaviour and ensure it is reported rather than going under the radar.
Child exploitation can be a hidden crime which many believe does not affect them, which led to Kerry Bowles leading and creating the campaign, which can also be found through #DidYouSeeItComing.
The TikTok style video was created to look like current viral content which featured videos that could be posted to children or young people's personal accounts and has been Surrey Police's top performing video on Facebook in the last 12 months.
One of the objectives of the video campaign was to increase the amount of intelligence reports in relation to Child Exploitation.
November 2021 saw the highest number of Child Exploitation intelligence reports in the year with a 55% increase compared to the monthly average of 2021. November 2021 also had an 80% increase in Child Exploitation reporting compared to November 2020.
Maria Edwards is the child vulnerability advisor for Surrey Police, she hopes the campaign is helping in raising awareness of child exploitation. She said:
"Some of the main warning signs are children with two mobile phones and children being secretive with their phone use.
"A change in behaviours also, for someone who works with children noticing a change in behaviour is something to look out for. A change in their grades, a change in their appearance, a change in their social circles can all be signs.
There are signs that the community can look out for too:
"Seeing children who aren't where they are meant to be is another sign. For example, if it's normal term time then we know children should be in school, we all have a role to play."
Encouraging members of the public to recognise the signs and to report them to the police is something that the campaign is working to increase, which can assist Surrey Police in tackling child exploitation.
Maria hopes that this will help people to report signs of exploitation.
"Definitely report it. If you think that a child is in immediate danger, ring 999.
"If you're not in immediate concern for that child but you think that something is just not quite right, then definitely report it immediately on 101 and speak with a police operator about your concerns."
The campaign, the use of social media and the use of new platforms to reach more audiences is a new approach that Maria believes can be continued to use platforms such as TikTok in a positive way.
"I think we should be doing all we can to use those platforms in a positive way and to actually shine a light in abuse that goes on.
"Also to recognise that we all have a role to play when it comes to keeping children safe."
Surrey Police are also there to support victims of child exploitation, as well as those who wish to report concerns.