CISOCA Urges Increased Monitoring of Children’s Online Use

Head of the Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA), Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Charmaine Shand, is calling on parents and guardians to be more vigilant in monitoring their children’s use of the online space in order to prevent them from falling victim to predators.

SSP Shand, who was addressing the virtual launch of the Matilda’s Corner District Consultative Committee (DCC) on April 10, said that the police is seeing cases of sexual assault where the perpetrator is someone the victim met online.

“We have seen a lot of those cases come into CISOCA where they meet persons on social media and they are invited to meet them at a particular location. They intend to meet one person and when they arrive at that location, they are meeting two and three persons and they are most times raped by these persons,” she said.

SSP Shand noted that a lot of children are being allowed unsupervised internet and device use, making them vulnerable to online predators.
“Because they are not monitored they will say to you that they are doing school work. You need to give them the time for school work and you need to know when that session ends,” she said.

She noted further that during “that time when you and I have retired to bed they are busy taking photos of their private parts because they were instructed to do so most times by a friend or by adults, who are also on the internet.”

The CISOCA Head said these photographs (or videos) are then circulated on various social media platforms, affecting victims for the rest of their lives.

“No action or inaction of a victim makes that person responsible for his or her victimisation. It is important that you know that the perpetrators are responsible for the crimes and their effects,” she argued, noting that in most incidents of abuse, the perpetrators are known to the victims.