New campaign to keep children safe from sexual exploitation

Saturday 11 March 2017

Local charity ‘Prison! Me! No Way!!!’ is working with Jersey Police to raise awareness of the sexual exploitation of children this month.

Throughout March, they will be delivering tailored PSHE lessons to every secondary school in the Island.

Detective Inspector Mark Hafey works in the States of Jersey Police Public Protection Unit.

He said: “Jersey is an amazing place to live with relatively low levels of crime, but we must never become complacent or naïve to the fact that appalling crimes can still happen here. 

“Whilst reported incidents of CSE are low in Jersey, there is increasing evidence that young people are on occasion being exposed to CSE – we therefore need to avoid complacency. Because of that we want to play our part in the National CSE Awareness Day so people in Jersey know what it is, the signs to look out for and how they can help.” 

The National Child Sexual Exploitation Awareness Day on 18 March aims to highlight the issues surrounding the sexual exploitation by encouraging everyone to speak out against abuse and adopt a zero tolerance to adults developing inappropriate relationships with children or children developing inappropriate relationships with other children.

Lesley Harrison, Chairman of ‘Prison! Me! No Way!!!’ in Jersey said: “Identification and early intervention of CSE is crucial. By raising awareness on how to identify the signs and by working together as a group of professionals who care, we can all play our part in this and work towards preventing as many children and young people as possible experiencing CSE.

"Sexual exploitation of children and young people is never acceptable. It is everyone’s responsibility to speak up for those who cannot speak up for themselves. It is essential that we respond by offering children and young people high quality safety education that will help keep them safe, and help them find a voice.”