Can I ask for a little more detail - what the end result of the case was, and why the police initially targeted you? I know that some English police forces are now using "cease and desist" letters in first-time cases involving such low category material.
Do PM me if that's better.
Alex R
CantChainTheSpirit wrote: Thu Mar 05, 2026 11:19 am I have some experience and views on this, having gone through the legal system.
In my case, I was charged with possessing cp since within our online photo albums there were several photos of a girl in what I'm told is a suggestive pose. So not naked, just in a pose playing a computer game with a friend but the way she was standing was considered erotic. She wasn't looking at the camera, wasn't posing, was playing a computer game but it was felt that the photo had an erotic look.
The result was a raid on the home, all computers taken including my kids school computers, phones and tablets. I had to move out and couldn't see my kids without supervision while the case went on. That case went on for years, that's years of my wife being forced to be a single parent in effect and my kids really suffering from the lack of having both parents there. I was powerless until a time limit was up when I was able to get a judge to intercede because the whole thing was nonsense.
My kids now have a dim view of the police and social services, they had social services and police showing up at school which led to problems at school and with their friends. There were just so many problems that came from all of this that really harmed the whole family, especially our kids. But we're a strong family and pulled through it.
But throughout the process, my wife didn't feel listened to. She was being lectured and pressured but she felt she couldn't speak out, couldn't express herself, couldn't speak her mind because the system didn't want to know. It was a mechanical process that she and the kids were put through. The kids were open and talked to social services and the police but they felt powerless as well.
In the end, the whole family was being punished and mistreated by a system that is cold and indifferent.
Look, I get it, there will be real serious cases that have to be dealt with. The problem is the system doesn't differentiate, it's a sledgehammer that will break people and families with cold indifference. It's worth breaking 10 homes if it captures 2 that are genuine problems, that seems to be the attitude.
Do the ends justify the means? From my perspective I'd say no because it should be possible to be more nuanced and tackle real problem situations without all the collateral damage.