Avon and Somerset Police are struggling with a surge in child abuse image cases and staff shortages, raising concerns.
The inspectors want police bosses to add more help, as the crime rate in this area is getting worse. Sarah Crew is the police chief. She said they handle over 70 cases each month and thinks that number could double next year. People questioned her about handling the extra cases.
The inspectors said the child abuse image team needs more people. Some cases are waiting longer than they should, and some haven’t been touched in months. One low-risk case is over a year old.
Rules say high-risk cases need action in seven days, medium-risk need 14 days, and low-risk in 30. The police only have one person finding victims. If that person is out, things get tough.
More criminals are sharing child abuse images. Numbers have grown a lot in ten years. Referrals come from a national crime group. Avon and Somerset handles about 73 cases a month right now.
Sarah thinks they’ll hit 140 cases next year. She said it is not only about the number of cases but also that the digital world makes things more complex, and responding needs experts.
Police first find people downloading images and carefully arrest these people. They don’t want to lose evidence on phones. Then they check devices for child abuse images.
Because there are more cases, the police are struggling with work. They’re training and moving staff from other jobs to help tackle the abuse image problem.
Sarah said they handled 140 referrals recently, which cut the backlog in half. They will keep extra staff there. She knows this area will likely keep growing, though the public may not see this work.
Police cannot force staff to work on these cases; officers must volunteer. They get counseling and health support. Staff also get breaks from these types of cases. They may use AI to check images.
Checking images all day is hard. Tech could help, said the chief. It could reduce the impact on people.