Providing information and support to the families of suspects arrested for indecent images of children.
| Does it work? |
Untested – new or innovative
|
|---|---|
| Focus |
Prevention
|
| Topic |
Child sexual exploitation and abuse
Criminal justice
Cybercrime including fraud
Digital
Vulnerability and safeguarding
|
| Organisation | |
|
HMICFRS report
|
|
| Contact |
Adam Knee |
| Email address | |
| Region |
South West
|
| Partners |
Police
|
| Stage of practice |
The practice is implemented.
|
| Start date |
|
| Scale of initiative |
Local
|
| Target group |
Adults
Families
|
Aim
The booklet has been designed to support families by explaining what the journey through the criminal justice system will look like for the suspect and what they can expect.
Intended outcome
The intended outcomes of the family pack support leaflet is to:
- reduce mental harm and self-harm among online sex offender families
- reduce self-harm and suicide to online sex offenders’ families
- increase public confidence in the police for families of online sex offenders
Description
It is widely recognised that within child abuse investigations, the families of the offenders are also affected. Their lives can be torn apart and they may be subject to community ostracisation. It can also affect their mental and physical health.
Support booklet
The booklet was designed to take away some anxieties by explaining what the journey of the suspect through the criminal justice system will look like and what they can expect. This includes sections on:
- the law
- social services and safeguarding
- explanations of legal terms such as release under investigation (RUI) and remand
- civil orders to protect potential victims
- links to support and guidance
The booklet contains links to support they can access. When developing the booklet, practitioners and supervisors of indecent images of children (IIOC) offences worked together on what they felt they should include and the common questions from families.
The detective chief inspector lead for the internet child abuse team approved the final draft. Stock photos were used to make the booklet more aesthetically pleasing. Approval of these photos was required from the media team on a number of occasions so that the photos that would be relevant but not triggering. Photos within the booklet focused on families doing everyday activities.
The officers now take this booklet on all their warrants. Due to the simplicity of introducing this new practice, no training was needed but staff were briefed on the implementation. There is also a hyper linked e-version where the support services can be accessed. This can be viewed on a computer or mobile as it is a PDF of the hard copy.
Overall impact
No feedback has been received but given the circumstances of what it is and who we give it to then this is not entirely expected.
Staff have been very receptive of it and have stated it has helped to give them focus on what to discuss with the families and ensure that they don’t overlook anything.
Learning
This practice was implemented without many challenges but there were some main points of learning from its implementation.
- The media team who physically made the booklet had large back logs of other work. Overall it took approximately 4 months to finalise the booklet.
- The choice of photos were potentially triggering, this resulted in providing specific descriptions of what was required for the booklet.
- The booklet is a reasonable size and this had cost implications. It cost approximately £500 for 1000 copies.
- Although there is an e-version, it is possible that the families’ devices would be seized at the initial police contact hence hard copies are also needed.
- Work with the victim support unit to proof-read the content.
- Collaborating with operational staff proved to help the development of the booklet significantly.