Essex Police and Crime Commissioner Nick Alston has hit out at the National Crime Agency after its top boss said thousands of paedophiles will escape investigation.
Keith Bristow, the director general of the National Crime Agency, days said it was “unrealistic” to expect police to investigate everyone who downloaded an indecent image of a child and it had to focus on suspects who posed the greatest risk to children.
This came just days after he apologised for not handing over details of 2,300 suspected paedophiles to police forces for more than a year, allowing them to continue to abuse children.
Mr Alston said: “It is important all intelligence suggesting a person has accessed indecent imagery or imagery of child abuse is investigated.”
He accepted there are not infinite responses but said investigating paedophiles helps to both get justice for child victims and stop more becoming victims.
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