Head of British Essex Police, leading the fight against digital crime, has called for new legislation to tackle an “unimagined scale of online abuse” that is threatening to overwhelm the police service.
Stephen Kavanagh says it is necessary to consolidate and simplify offences committed online to improve the chance of justice for tens of thousands of victims.
“There are crimes now taking place – the malicious use of intimate photographs for example – which we never would have imagined as an offence when I was a PC in the 80s. It’s not just the nature of it, it is the sheer volume,” he said.
He made the statements two days after Former England footballer Adam Johnson was found guilty of sexual activity with a 15 year old girl having groomed her via a series of WhatsApp messages.