Child abuse increasing and more complex to police, crime agency says

Child sex abuse is becoming increasingly complex to police and officers are arresting an average of 1,000 potential offenders each month, the National Crime Agency (NCA) says.

It says an increasing reliance on online platforms and advances in technology, such as AI image creation, are exacerbating the problem, with algorithms and digital communities connecting offenders to share and promote child sex abuse material.

According to the NCA, the number of arrests has roughly doubled in the past three years. Statistically, potential offenders are in every community and victims in every school, the NCA said.

It added that police cannot address the issue alone and called on technology companies to do more.

In one week in January alone, the NCA said it and police forces across the UK arrested 252 people,118 of whom were charged, and safeguarded 407 children. It added that this level of action was now taking place regularly.

"The scale and prevalence of the CSA [child sexual abuse] threat has increased in severity and complexity over the years," the NCA said in a statement, describing it as "one of the most significant threats across the UK".

"On a daily basis, officers at the NCA and across policing are assessing some of the most obscene child abuse imaginable. And this is not hidden in the dark web – it's being shared on social media and is accessible on the clear web as well for anyone to see," said Rob Jones, the NCA's director of general operations.

"This is the regulated environment that should be the safest part of the system."

Jones adds that while offenders are collaborating and co-ordinating their activities on the dark web - an encrypted corner of the internet only accessible using special software designed to make owners digitally untraceable - they are using the mainstream internet as a "discovery platform to identify and abuse vulnerable children".

"Due to the way algorithms drive people with like-minded interests together - and because of the way people operate - they will be told what they are doing is normal," the NCA said.

It has found that financially motivated sexual extortion (FMSE), especially of young boys, is on the rise - with offenders commissioning livestreamed sexual abuse of children on demand for £20.

The agency is cautioning that abuse is not only happening online and that increasing evidence showing that there is a link between the viewing of child sexual abuse material and physical abuse.

"The response to the continual CSA threat cannot be one for policing alone - a whole‑system approach is the only way to protect children effectively," said Jones.

Becky Riggs, National Police Chiefs' Lead for Child Protection and Abuse Investigation, said: "We need technology companies to act with urgency to make their platforms hostile environments for offenders.

"That means developing and implementing solutions that prevent children from taking, sharing or viewing nude images online, improving the detection of child sexual abuse material, and ensuring platforms are built safer by design."

Jess Phillips, Minister for Safeguarding and Violence against Women and Girls, said the government is funding "a network of undercover officers online and a dedicated police taskforce to disrupt crimes, catch offenders and protect children".

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has also pledged to respond more quickly to close loopholes in laws designed to protect children online through the Online Safety Act.