Avon and Somerset police struggle with growth of children’s sexual abuse

Mrs. Crew spoke last week in response to police and Crime Commissioner Clare Moody, on how to approach the increasing number of cases, according to the local democracy reporting service.

She said to the commissioner: “In the last 28 days we have solved 140 notifications. It has reduced us to half delay … We expect this to grow and grow and grow.

“But what we do is not so visible to the public, who expect to see officers in uniform.”

The work involves identifying and arresting those who downloaded images.

The inspectors, from the Inspectorate of His Majesty of Constabular and Fire and Salvation services, asked the police chiefs to invest more resources to meet cases that involve images of sexual abuse on children.

The inspection found that several cases at Avon and Somerset remained unresolved for months, and the team only had one officer identifying victims.

Mrs. Crew said the technology could be used to better support the force team.

“Constant review of images for hours is very difficult for a man,” she said.