Police Scotland blasted for branding paedophiles ‘minor-attracted people’ in top level report… – The Scottish Sun

POLICE Scotland chiefs were at the centre of a row after their end-of-year report referred to paedophiles as “Minor-Attracted People”.
A section of Chief Constable Iain Livingstone’s annual review included the controversial term for child sex beasts — plus a vow to give them “support, treatment and guidance” to change their ways.
The force insisted it doesn’t use the phrase routinely but did so as part of its work with a Europe-wide consortium tackling the exploitation of youngsters.
But the top-level paper’s description of paedos as MAPs was slammed by campaigners and politicians.
Kenny MacAskill MP, a former Justice Secretary, labelled it “baloney”.
He said: “Spouting these euphemisms masks the reality and danger. They should be avoided as they hide horror.”
And a Scots Tory spokesman said: “Most will find any attempt to soften the language around paedophilia to be deeply disturbing and wrong.
“Offences relating to it are appalling and unforgivable and it’s essential that Police Scotland guidance reflects this.”
The offending mention appeared in the Chief Constable’s Assessment of Policing Performance 2021/22.
The report states the force’s Special Crime Division for Public Protection has “engaged in the Horizon Europe Project — Prevention of Child Sexual Exploitation”.
It adds: “The project’s main agenda is to develop understanding and approach to avoid the victimisation of children by engaging Minor-Attracted People (MAPs) and providing them with the necessary support, treatment and guidance to help prevent criminal activities.”
Maggie Mellon, an independent social work consultant, said the term MAP risked “normalising and therefore perhaps decriminalising a serious offence”.
She added: “There should be treatment options for those who present a risk to children but the police are not a therapeutic service.
“They should be devoting their resources to closing down porn sites and upping detection and conviction rates for those promoting child abuse.”
Police Scotland insisted it does not use Minor-Attracted Person — and has even campaigned for the term to be dropped by other forces.
Detective Chief Superintendent Sam Faulds, Head of Public Protection for Police Scotland, said: “We utterly condemn anyone who commits sexual offences against children, be it individuals or organised paedophile networks, and we work tirelessly to bring them to justice.
“Police Scotland does not use the term Minor-Attracted Person to describe this type of offender and any suggestion otherwise completely misrepresents our position.
“The term referenced in a Police Scotland report in June 2022 was quoted from proposal documents for the establishment of the Horizon Project, a European consortium to tackle child sexual abuse and exploitation.
“At the first meeting of the consortium, in Warsaw in September 2022, Police Scotland officers successfully lobbied for the MAP term to be removed from recognised terminology used by more than 20 European partners.
“Our view was that the term was entirely unacceptable in describing someone either involved in sexual offending against children or who has indecent thoughts towards them.
“Police Scotland’s National Child Abuse Investigation Unit works closely with partners to investigate all reports of child sexual exploitation, identify and apprehend abusers and reduce their opportunity for sexual offending, both physically and in the digital space.”
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