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PPU officers were engaged with a wide range of investigations throughout 2017, the Bailiwick of Guernsey Law Enforcement's annual report has shown.
At the header of the report, Chief Officer Patrick Rice said the work the Public Protection Unit had done throughout the year was one of the key successes of Law Enforcement.
The Unit dealt with the continued rise of sexting, indecent image investigations, online child exploitation alongside more physical cases, such as child assaults and sexual assaults.
Significant cases in 2017 included the imprisonment for six and half years of a male for indecent assaults toward children and another male received five years imprisonment for indecent assaults and gross indecency with a child.
These figures from the PPU come from the Bailiwick Law Enforcement's Annual Report 2017.
Overall, officers from the Unit attended 65 child protection strategy meetings which resulted in investigations into information that a child had suffered or was at immediate risk of suffering serious harm.
They were heavily involved in child and adult safeguarding as well as supporting victims of domestic violence in attending the Multi Agency Support Hub (MASH), Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) and child protection case conferences among other multi agency forums. The MARAC supported 174 high risk domestic abuse victims, 28% of which were repeat cases.
In the Multi Agency Public Protection (MAPP) Unit, 70 sex offenders, eight of which had active Sexual Offences Prevention Orders (SOPO) were actively managed with three breaches of notifications prosecuted in 2017 which resulted in further prison sentences and extensions of probation orders.
As far as sexual offences are concerned, the number in 2017 rose slightly compared to the previous years, with 46 recorded cases of indecent assault versus 36, and 19 of rape compared to 16.
Romance Fraud was one particular area of concern for the PPO - a type of fraud which exploits people online to get money out of them.
A spokesperson from the police said: "The majority of offenders to date appear to reside in foreign jurisdictions, which makes it more difficult to carry out investigations.
"If investigations are not possible we ensure safeguarding surrounding the victim and crime prevention advice is given. Further relevant information is shared with other jurisdictions in an attempt to prevent the commission of further offences."
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