WA:WA Police crackdown on teenage sexting

AAP General News (Australia)
03-22-2011
WA:WA Police crackdown on teenage sexting

By Josh Jerga

PERTH, March 22 AAP - West Australian police are cracking down on teenagers sending
sexually explicit images of themselves via the internet and mobile phones.

In the past week six teenagers between the ages of 13 and 16 have been investigated
by police in relation to sending naked images or sexually explicit videos of themselves
to others.

Two girls and two boys, all aged 13, were cautioned this week by police after they
were found to have possessed and distributed several sexually explicit images of one of
the girls.

The images, which police say were in circulation for three weeks, were discovered by
teachers at the girl's school and resulted in her being bullied and teased.

Detective Senior Sergeant Lindsay Garratt said it was a classic case of the boyfriend
distributing the images of the girl to his friends after the pair had split up.

"Had teachers and police not intervened, there was a significant risk of these images
finding their way onto the internet and all over the world almost instantly, exposing
the girl to years of anguish," Det Sen Sgt Garratt said.

In another case a 14-year-old boy was cautioned after child exploitation material was
found on his mobile phone.

Det Sen Sgt Garrett, who is in charge of the Online Child Exploitation Squad, said
concerns were raised that the boy was sending images and videos of himself over the internet
and pressuring girls for sex.

A 16-year-old boy will face Perth Children's Court later this month after he allegedly
created a fake Facebook account to pressure girls to expose themselves

On two separate occasions the teenager pressured a 14-year-old girl and 15-year-old
girl to expose themselves on a web cam and perform sexual acts.

Police said one of the girls obliged after being threatened with violence when she
returned to school and the video file was later uploaded to Facebook.

The boy has been charged with one count each of encouraging and procuring a child to
do an indecent act and one count of distributing child exploitation material.

Det Sen Sgt Garratt said the trend, which has become known as sexting, may seem like
harmless fun but teenagers needed to be aware it could have serious implication from bullying
to affecting future employment and relationship.

"Young people also need to be making the link between the images they are creating,
and the supply to a market amongst sex offenders who are trawling the internet for sexualised
images of children for their sexual gratification," he said.

AAP jsj/jlw

KEYWORD: SEXTING

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