OFFICERS are appealing for help from parents tackling online exploitation.

Specialist officers are calling on parents for support in fighting online abuse and exploitation.

Detectives from the force’s Paedophile Online Investigation Team (POLIT) urge families to have conversations about which apps, platforms and sites are used, and what content is being shared and viewed.

Child abuse images online continue to rise globally, with the Internet Watch Foundation citing a 1000 per cent increase since 2019.

One group statistically most likely to see and share content is teenage boys.

Detective sergeant Dave Henderson from Northumbria Police’s crime department said: "Teenagers especially are more likely to push the boundaries when it comes to getting round privacy settings and accessing materials they know they shouldn’t.

"Recently, we have seen an increase in the number of males aged between 14 and 18 accessing indecent, explicit and illegal materials like child sexual abuse, and we’d especially ask parents and guardians of this age range to have those conversations."