My existing PPU basically said the same thing, I asked him on one of his visits what risk he believes I pose and he basically said because I own a PC that my risk was "high". this soon lowered to medium as my visits were then with in 6 months which as far as I know, is still the case.

Yes. They do view all SO as the same. It's a "well that's all we've managed to catch you for so far." mentality.

The police foolishly told me at my first post conviction meeting that they considered me a high risk offender. This was not because of the category of images (which was C), but because I worked in the IT industry and had a Computer Science degree and in their eyes more likely to be able to hide things from them. 

In theory, they are a good idea, as they would lead to only two years on the SOR and no automatic SHPO, unless the police take it to court. Yes, I realise that we're speaking about low-risk offenders, but I'm not sure the police see it that way, as many of them think that SOs are all the same. Of course, once you put administering the conditional cautions in the hands of people who don't understand then there could very easily be problems. Like this one... and this one. Filtering is not an issue here, as the offence would never be filtered, anyway, but if a conditional caution is recorded incorrectly, it could lead to other problems where there should be none. You think your conditional caution is spent...but it isn't. I'm not trying to be negative or dismissive, but there could easily be fundamental issues that aren't obvious to the people who control the process. At the moment, the Policing Act introduces diversionary and community cautions, but they are not for indictable or triable either way offences, so there is definitely room for improvement and this could be a good start.


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If you are to punish a man retributively you must injure him. If you are to reform him you must improve him. And men are not improved by injuries. (George Bernard Shaw)

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/07/18/low-risk-offenders-who-view-child-sex-abuse-images-online-should/

This is actually nothing new, because it was recommended before, back in 2018. Since then, very few conditional cations have been issued, but this report will at least keep the idea on the radar of senior police officers and may eventually lead to a change in approach.