Police team up with Revenge Porn Helpline in bid to remove barriers for reporting image-based crime
The police are working with the Revenge Porn Helpline to improve the experience of victims reporting online intimate image abuse.
Intimate image abuse is a serious offence involving the sharing of intimate images or videos without permission. It can include posting or sending images, creating fake images, showing physical copies, or threatening to share them to blackmail or coerce someone.
The crime is thought to be vastly under-reported. Data from the Revenge Porn Helpline shows that only 4 per cent of people who reported their abuse to the helpline also reported it to the police.
A new project led by the Revenge Porn Helpline, the National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls and Public Protection, and Digital Public Contact, aims to reduce barriers that may stop victims seeking help. These include fear, stigma, and a lack of trust.
One measure being explored is ‘image hashing’, which allows police and prosecutors to investigate using a description of an image rather than the image itself. This would mean victims could limit who sees the image and avoid the distress of it being shown in court.
A joint reporting process between the police and the helpline will also be set up to ensure victims who want to report to the police can do so with support. This includes the use of StopNCII.org, a tool that can block intimate images shared without consent from appearing online.
The project is funded by the UK Integrated Security Fund, which brings government departments together to tackle security threats.
Detective Chief Superintendent Claire Hammond, from the National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection, said:
“The impact of online intimate image abuse cannot be underestimated; it violates the right to safety and privacy for victims, which is why we have to act now.
“If victims do not feel they can report to the police, then we need to give them the confidence to come forward. Otherwise, we risk allowing perpetrators to continue to cause harm, and we cannot let that happen. We must bring more perpetrators of this pervasive crime to justice.
“I hope that the changes we are making to how we respond to and investigate these types of crimes will have meaningful, positive impact for victims, but policing cannot tackle this issue alone. This sinister form of violence against women and girls is fuelled by misogyny both on and offline, which requires action from the whole of society to challenge and eradicate it.”
Sophie Mortimer, Manager of the Revenge Porn Helpline, said: “We know from the people we support that the current system of reporting to the police is perceived with a degree of concern and worry. By working with the police to create safer, less imposing ways to report, we hope to break down those barriers and give victims the confidence that they will be protected. This initiative is an important step in improving police reporting systems and will go towards improving protections whilst strengthening the message that intimate image abuse will not be tolerated.”
North Wales cases
Figures released by North Wales Police under the Freedom of Information Act show the scale of the problem locally.
In 2024, the force recorded 142 offences linked to intimate image abuse, including 41 cases of sharing intimate photographs to cause alarm or humiliation, 33 threats to share such material, and 31 cases of sharing images of someone in an intimate state without consent.
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