TEENAGERS in Herefordshire are being urged to think twice before ‘sexting’ or posting something online which they could later regret.

The advice comes as part of an awareness-raising drive being rolled out by West Mercia Police.

Over the past two years police has investigated 60 youngsters for sending or sharing explicit or naked pictures of themselves on social media or by text.

Ten of those cases were in Herefordshire – five were boys and five were girls.

DCI Sean Paley said: "We wouldn't go down the route of saying the figures are low or high because we know it's under-reported but we know this is going on and it's quite a wide spread and the research will tell us children seem to think it's quite normal.

"We are trying to say to people 'look you need to think about the consequences'."

He said there is a national trend among children and young people to take indecent photographs of themselves, and sometimes even of friends, to send each other or post in public places. That could be online, such as on social media sites, or by sending the photos to each other on mobile phones.

"This may be considered harmless fun by some but it really isn’t. It can have huge emotional consequences for those involved, leaving them vulnerable to blackmail, bullying and harm after sharing an image," said DCI Paley.

"It’s important to remember that once they have sent an image they lose control of where it ends up."

Children who are ‘sexting’ may actually be committing criminal offences. If a teenager possessed an indecent image of another minor – aged under 16 – they would technically be in possession of an indecent image of a child, which is an offence under the Protection of Children Act 1978 and the Criminal Justice Act 1988.

If someone is prosecuted for these offences, they may be placed on the sex offenders register, potentially for some considerable time.

DCI Paley added: “We do not want to alarm children, or their parents, but we do want them to be aware of the risks associated with ’sexting’. Protecting children from harm is a key priority for the police and we would like victims of all ages to have the confidence to come forward and report crimes. "

He added that people could look at two-factor authentication on social media sites to reduce the risk of images being obtained by others.

Visit westmercia.police.uk/becybersmart for more on the campaign or for advice and support go to ceop.police.uk or thinkuknow.co.uk

ChildLine can be contacted on 0800 1111.