AVON and Somerset Police has bolstered its “knackered” team tackling perverts who watch online child abuse amid growing numbers of cases and criticism from a government watchdog.

A report by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary 12 months ago said the force needed to improve how it enforces the law against offenders accessing indecent images of children.

The PEEL report, which stands for police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy, found the constabulary was “not routinely applying for warrants to secure entry into premises being used by suspects” who download sick pornography involving youngsters.

It said the force was also “not routinely using powers of arrest to detain and question these individuals, relying instead on voluntary attendance to the police station”.

The report said: “The constabulary should re-evaluate this approach.

“It should be more proactive in the use of warrants to secure entry to premises so that evidence can be secured at the earliest opportunity, arrest should also be considered in these cases in order for bail conditions to be applied where appropriate, which adds a further level of protection to potential victims.”

Avon & Somerset Deputy Chief Constable Jon Reilly told a monthly scrutiny meeting chaired in public  by Police & Crime Commissioner (PCC) Mark Shelford that the internet child abuse team (ICAT), dedicated to targeting the offenders, had expanded and “considerably improved” how it worked.

He said the unit was “perpetrator focused” and took prompt enforcement action on new referrals.

These come in from the National Crime Agency, the regional organised crime unit and a US charity-run programme called the Child Protection System, which monitor the flow of information across the web and raise the alarm over child abuse images, linking them to the recipient’s IP address.

DCC Reilly said: “What’s clear is that demand within that ICAT team has sadly been increasing year on year as we get more and more referrals in but we’re confident that the changes we’ve made put us in the best position to continue to be effective in this space.

“Because of that continued demand we’ve completed a comprehensive review of our working practices and made some really important changes to improve our capabilities in this area.

“That included creating more efficient internal systems and processes but also bringing in fresh leadership with the introduction of a new detective inspector as well as uplifting the ICAT team by an additional sergeant and six members of staff because of the volume of work that’s coming in.”

He said the force continued to explore innovative approaches and had introduced a new fast-track way of submitting files to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to obtain control orders on low-risk offenders who made early admissions rather than going through lengthy court cases.

DCC Reilly told the PCC performance and accountability board on Wednesday, March 13, that a streamlined way for evidence to be delivered to the CPS from the scene of an offence was being developed to speed up the process.