Call for non-contact sexual offences to be reported
Wiltshire Police says it's anticipating a rise in cases, which can be linked to more serious crimes
There's a call from Police across Wiltshire to report cases of non-contact sexual offences to them, as they anticipate a rise in cases during the summer.
Non-contact offences, which include indecent exposure, cyber flashing - the sending of genital images online without permission - and voyeurism, often lead to more serious offences, such as serious sexual assault and rape, Assistant Chief Constable, Liz Coles, said.
"People don't always consider how serious they may be," she said, adding that the link between these and an escalation of offending is clear.
"We see a clear correlation between non-contact sexual offending, that the offenders move on to commit contact offences, often as serious as rape sometimes. So the reporting of that for us is absolutely vital."
The Force's push for reporting follows an incident in London where a woman dialled 999 because a man was exposing himself on a train. He was arrested by British Transport Police and, after checks were made, it turned out he was wanted for a rape in Liverpool that had happened days beforehand.
The case underscores the critical nature of reporting, with ACC Coles saying it can be the missing link officers need.
She said there is usually a summer "spike" in these types of offences and is calling for us to be vigilant when out and about and to report concerns to them.
"The advice is if anyone sees sort of any non-contact sexual offence or sees anything that they feel seems strange, if it's happening there or then, please ring 999," she said. We can also report incidents later via 101 or online.
ACC Coles added: "It helps us build a real intelligence picture which allows us to up our patrols in certain areas and where possible try and identify any potential offenders."
It is hoped that it will lead to the continued improvement of trust and confidence in policing from the public, with ACC Coles saying people deserve to feel safe when out and about in local areas.
"We want to do everything we can to ensure that we can identify potentially people who may commit some of these non-contact sexual offences, especially knowing that they could go on to commit sexual offences from a contact perspective. We want to be able to identify those people deal with them robustly and we want people to feel safe in their communities."