FOI 1020/26

REQUEST

 

1. The total number of recorded offences of indecent images (still or moving) of children and prohibited images of children for the period 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026. 
   
   

1. For each offence for the period 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026 please break it down by the platform used to commit the offence where known using the following key word search:  Snapchat, Facebook/Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, X/Twitter, Kik, TikTok, YouTube, Discord, Skype, Facetime, and Roblox.
    
2. What is the total number of perpetrators linked to the offences in question 1?

 

RESPONSE

 

A search has been conducted on our Crime and incident reporting system (Niche RMS) for all crimes recorded between the 1^st April 2025 and the 3^1st March 2026 under the following Home Office (HO) Codes:

 

• 86/02: Take/make/distribute indecent photographs/pseudo-photographs of children (Protection of Children Act 1978 S1,6)
• 86/86/10: Possession of an indecent or pseudo-photograph of a child (Criminal Justice Act 1988 S160)

 

Question 1

 

Home Office (HO) Code	Total
86|02	1034
86|10	52
Grand Total	1086

 

 

Question 2

 

Platform	Total
Snapchat	189
Facebook/Messenger	16
Instagram	34
WhatsApp	15
Twitter	2
X	491
Kik	64
TikTok	16
YouTube	35
Discord	31
Skype	0
Facetime	3
Roblox	2

 

Please note that this data has been gathered by searching the occurrence summary for the keywords ‘Snapchat’, ‘Facebook/Messenger’, ‘Instagram’, ‘WhatsApp’, ‘X/Twitter’, ‘Kik’, ‘TikTok’, ‘YouTube’, ‘Discord’, ‘Skype’, ‘Facetime’, and ‘Roblox’ respectively for the relevant time period. The results retrieved are dependent on how the information has been entered onto the system. As such, the information provided should not be considered statistically accurate and/or definitive and therefore, care should be taken when using for any further statistical, analytical or evaluative purposes.

 

Please also note that the figures for the social media platform ‘X’ are particularly inaccurate as this search has retrieved every summary with a word containing the letter ‘x’ within it such as the words sex, sexual and sexually.

 

Question 3

 

A search has been conducted on our Crime and incident reporting system (Niche RMS) for ‘primary’ arrests recorded between the 1^st April 2025 and the 3^1st March 2026 under the following ‘Arrest Reason Home Office (HO) Codes’.

 

Arrest Reason HO Code	Total of Primary Arrests
086/02	21
086/10	180
Grand Total	201

 

 

Please also be aware that the figure provided in question 3 does not relate to the figure provided in question 1. This is because the two searches have been conducted using different methodologies and therefore will retrieve different results.

To provide the data in relation to Q1 as requested a S12(1) Fees exemption would have been engaged as every occurrence would have to be manually reviewed to establish if an arrest were made.

 

Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete however please note that the detail collected to respond specifically to your request is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes, and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when interpreting those data.

 

The figures provided therefore are our best interpretation of relevance of data to your request, but you should be aware that the collation of figures for ad hoc requests may have limitations, and this should be taken into account when those data are used.

 

 

The ability to react to incidents of abuse against children is of the highest priority for South Wales Police. We actively pursue every opportunity to identify children at risk, focussing our efforts in making sure victims are appropriately safeguarded through multi-agency involvement and offenders are brought to justice.

 

 Each of the three Basic Command Units in force has a dedicated CSE team who work closely with dedicated Missing Persons teams. They assist with CSE investigations and will attach relevant flags and markers on the police systems to assist with safeguarding and identifying relevant individuals. The teams include dedicated Child advocates, whose role is to de-brief suspected victims of CSE and provide intelligence to the teams to assist in safeguarding victims and identifying perpetrators.

 

   The force has also invested in a new Exploitation Team. The team consists of a Detective Inspector, four Sergeants and 17 Constables to cover the three basic command units (BCU’s). There is also a fourth team based at Headquarters to cover the strategic elements of both Child Criminal Exploitation and Child Sexual Exploitation

 

    The BCU teams will take investigative ownership of all criminal investigations linked to child exploitation, to include:

 

• Modern Slavery Act 2015
• CSE offences outside a familial environment
• Child National Referral Mechanism referrals, where investigation is required
• Group based CSE offences

 

The aforementioned resources work with analytical support to pro-actively identify potential victims and perpetrators, as well as working with partner agencies to provide the necessary safeguarding of victims and disruption of offenders