Our deterrence campaigns aim to prevent people from viewing and sharing sexual images of children online and having online sexual conversations with under-16s online. These crimes are online child sexual abuse.
Since 2015 we’ve worked to:
- raise awareness of the growing problem of online child sexual abuse
- explain the law and that viewing indecent images of children or engaging in sexual communications with under-16s are serious crimes
- highlight the real harm caused to children
- drive home the personal and legal consequences for offenders and their families, including possible arrest, imprisonment, break up of family, and being put on the sex offenders register
- direct people concerned about their own or someone else’s online behaviour to our anonymous Stop It Now helpline and online self-help for support to change behaviour
How does it work?
We work with police forces, other law enforcement agencies, local authorities, NHS bodies and others to spread
To best reach people worried about their own or someone else’s online sexual behaviour, we work with partner organisations to plan bespoke campaigns to meet the individual needs of the area. Through press engagement, workforce webinars, social media and print advertising, we help adults know what they can do to help keep children safe.
Find out more about the Scotland campaign on Police Scotland’s website.
Our impact
Millions of people have seen campaign messages since 2015. Each campaign phase is independently evaluated, which contributes to the strategic planning of the next phase. Using analysis of helpline call records and online surveys, evaluation finds:
- the campaign drove a clear increase in activity to our Get Help self-help resources
- our Stop It Now helpline and online self-help continue to encourage positive attitude and behaviour change, with the majority of survey respondents reporting at least one positive attitude change, and all reported making at least one positive behaviour change
- crucially, the majority of offenders acknowledged that they needed to do more to stop their behaviour long-term, with most intending to maintain and make further changes
The campaign won the Scottish Charity Awards ‘Campaign of the Year’ award in 2021. The campaign was also a Best Cyber Educations Programme finalist at the Scottish Cyber Awards in 2021.
