THE Launceston police officer who received an award for his commitment to safeguarding young people is urging parents to be aware of the dangers of the internet, ‘sexting’ and how misuse of technology can lead to child sexual exploitation.

PC Steve Stoppard was recently awarded the Ian Warne Memorial Trophy, after delivering online safety sessions to children at various primary and secondary schools in the area.

He has also held many sessions for parents, but has expressed his concern that the turnout for such sessions for adults are low — he suggests this could be due to parents and carers not understanding the technology and social media available to youngsters today, and choosing to ignore the dangers of the internet rather than be aware of how children locally are being affected.

PC Stoppard himself has dealt with incidents of grooming and child sexual exploitation locally.

He said: “Parents and carers have got to be aware of what their children are accessing and the reasons behind that access, and to assist in the education of being a good citizen online.

“Also, encourage them to have friends that are real. Have some kind of family contract in relation to how the internet is used and viewed in the house.”

There is information available to everyone, including parents and carers, on the website www.thinkuknow.co.uk/, run by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP). He advises adults to use the resources to help their understanding of how online technology can be used today.

He added: “Don’t be afraid of it just because you don’t know enough about it. One of the quotes they say in a presentation I went to is we’re not all mechanics but we know how to drive a car. We don’t necessarily need to know how they work. The same can be said of the internet.”

He said if people find their children are using technology inappropriately, not to react with a heavy handed approach. “The biggest thing I say is not to go in with that iron fist because they will access it underground, whether at a friend’s or where WiFi isn’t protected.”

He said he has heard from an eight-year-old boy who has figured out how to disable the parental controls from his internet provider without his parents’ knowledge, and of youngsters standing outside a care home simply to access its unrestricted WiFi network on their phones.

When PC Stoppard delivers the sessions to secondary school children, he shows a film by CEOP, depicting a young teenage girl who sends nude photographs to her boyfriend. The boyfriend sends them on to his best friend, who then distributes the photographs more widely. The photographs are viewed by tens of thousands of people in a very short amount of time. PC Stoppard said with incidents like this, it is around this point the police are contacted, who then are starting from scratch trying to find the chain of where the photographs have been sent in order to delete them.

This takes up officers’ time, and PC Stoppard wants parents and carers to be aware and clued up on technology to enable this education to pass on to their children, so ideally such incidents do not happen in the first place.

He also warns children and teenagers the consequences are very serious — creating, possessing and distributing such material of a child under 18 are all offences in their own right and can lead to offenders being put on the sex offenders register, affecting their future prospects.

The message from the video is that there is help available to those who have made a mistake, and that they can access help and resources on www.thinkuknow.co.uk/, or should speak to their parents/carers, teachers or the police.

Anyone worried about online abuse or the way someone is communicating with them online can also make a report to one of CEOP’s child protection advisers and access information at www.ceop.police.uk/

After viewing the video, schoolchildren have disclosed information about incidents to their parents and PC Stoppard himself.

PC Stoppard is in contact with Launceston Town Council about using the town hall as a venue for the first public session on these issues in Devon and Cornwall, and hopes once arranged, it will be well attended by people wanting to find out more about the seriousness of these crimes that have been affecting children in the area.

When awarded the Ian Warne Memorial Trophy, presented to an officer who has displayed the qualities to be an ambassador for the Police Service, PC Stoppard was praised for forging excellent links with school safeguarding staff.

At the time a spokesperson for Devon and Cornwall Police said: “Due to his progressive approach, he identified an opportunity to make a real difference to the lives of young people building trusting relationships with some hard-to-reach groups.

“A number of young people who would not normally trust the police have come forward to give information either that they have been a victim or have witnessed behaviours, which pose risks to themselves and their peers.

“Now there is a real openness in the schools to discuss inappropriate on-line behaviour and the risks and PC Stoppard has proactively disrupted the perpetrators of exploitative behaviours.”