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Education

HUMBERSIDE POLICE RAPE AWARENESS CAMPAIGN 2011

WEEK TWO – EDUCATION

As Humberside Police launch week two of the summer Rape Awareness Campaign the focus turns to education and the importance of educating children around the dangers they face when sending text messages, with sending explicit photographs to other people via mobile phones.

As the use of mobile phones become more and more advanced, children are always wanting the latest models and want to be able to do the latest things, access the internet, send pictures, make videos etc.

Police are now starting to experience more and more case’s of ‘sexting’ – using mobile phones to send sexually explicit images or text messages back and forth, when investigating incidents of rape, and more commonly in girls aged 14-17 years old.

Police have seen an increase in the number of girls who report an incident of rape, and have been in contact with the man on facebook, MSN or have started off by texting him, prior to the offence.

Detective Sergeant Nicki Miller, who heads up the Sex Offences Team in North Lincolnshire said:

“The education of pupils aged 14-17 years old is paramount, when talking about sexual offences and the dangers of sending a picture on a mobile phone or via a social networking site such as Twitter or Facebook.

“We are investigating more and more incidents of sexual offences on young girls, where a picture or an explicit text message has been sent, prior to the offence taking place. It is vital that we explain to young girls the dangers they put themselves in, and to ensure males requesting these images know they are committing a sexual offence.

“It’s not just the offence that is the problem; it is how far the message it sent. Many of the girls think that the only person to see that message will be the person it is sent to and in many cases how wrong they are. The message frequently gets shown to their friends, put on a social network site and before they know it everyone has seen the explicit image, intended only for one pair of eyes.

“I would remind people it is not just about girls. Any boys or men found to be in possession of an explicit image of a minor (under 18) can be charged with a sexual offence which could result in them being placed on the sex offences register. This will then have a major impact on the rest of their lives.

As well as educating the children around what they should and should not be doing in the form of texting and the use of social networking sites, it is also equally as important that we educate the parents as to what they can do, in such situations.

It is sometimes the worst thing a child could think of, to tell their parents that they have done something wrong, and when sex is involved it can make it even harder. The last thing children want to do is discuss anything with mum, dad, brother or sister, that they would talk about with their friends. This is where parents become involved and have to be the eyes and ears as to what their child is doing.

Detective Sergeant Nicki Miller continued to say:

“We appreciate the difficulties parents face these days keeping track of what their child is doing, especially when it comes to texting and the use of social networking sites, but we would ask that if any parent has any suspicion, please speak to your child.
“On many occasions the people targeting children on the internet may not be who they are purporting to be. Therefore it is important people only accept friends they actually know. For parents, there is a lot of information available on the internet about how to make your computer secure.

“A little conversation with your child can make all the difference and we encourage parents to remind children of the dangers ‘sexting’ and the impact it can have on their lives.

“It is our aim, as the police, to work with the Education department of North Lincolnshire and help to deliver the key messages of the campaign into schools and colleges.

“We appreciate that this message does not apply to all people in this age range, but we feel that by delivering the message on a large scale we can help to reduce the number of incidents of rape or sexual offences being committed.”

Local Neighbourhood officer Tina Starbuck has been working with the children in South Axholme School, Epworth to cover this topic and help educate the children. She said:

“We have this year undertaken school assemblies which have included lessons with the pupils as well as the assemblies on topics such as Personal Safety, Alchohol, Drugs, Knife crime, gangs and together with recent training.

“We have also given a very well received assembly to all year groups on the Child Online Exploitation and Protection which covers subjects about rape, on-line social network groups and sexting. 

“We have now delivered all of this to all year groups at South Axholme School and as a result have already had several reports made to CEOP and logs to Humberside Police.
 
Marie Lister, Head teacher of South Axholme school said:

"We are pleased to be working with Humberside Police to raise awareness among our pupils about these issues. Pupil safety is always of paramount importance to us and we are always keen to embrace any opportunity to ensure that the messages reach our young people.

“Sadly these girls often do not realise  the dangers and in a rapidly changing society they need to be well informed.

“Our school has an excellent relationship with PC Tina Starbuck and she has a very good rapport with the pupils here. She is a real asset in terms of her support for and work with the school, in making young people more aware and hopefully safer."

Cllr Rob Waltham, cabinet member for Adult and Children’s services at North Lincolnshire Council, said:

“North Lincolnshire Council is working with Humberside Police and other partners in the campaign to make sure the right messages are getting through.

“Together we want to educate both men and women about the dangers they face when they drink too much alcohol and put themselves at risk.”