POLICE in Teesside have teamed up with headteachers as part of a campaign to stop underage children posting intimate "selfies" or video online.

At least six young women and girls have contacted Cleveland Police in recent months reporting that images of them were on various websites without their permission.

Under-18s are increasingly taking indecent photographs or videos of themselves, and sharing them with friends, or on social networking sites.

Now Cleveland Police is warning young people - and adults - tempted to post or share pictures that once they are shared they could be available for everyone to see.

Detective Chief Superintendent Darren Best, head of Crime and Criminal Justice at Cleveland Police, said: "This issue is part of our wider strategy to provide information to the public, to help them to be safe online.

"It is illegal for under-18s to take or share an "indecent" picture of themselves or to look at or share someone else's. Young people are also reminded that indecent photographs do not have to be naked pictures.

“The internet is a public place and if people do something embarrassing or criminal on one of our high streets, they would expect people to see them and potentially for consequences to follow. "Exactly the same is true of the internet - the difference however is that the high street will have a limited number of people present at any one time, the internet is available to billions of people all over the world and things are available for other people to see, potentially forever."

He said in some, high-profile national cases, "revenge porn" had been posted when relationships broke down.

New legislation now means people can face two years' imprisonment for posting intimate images or video of their former partner on social media or text messages.

Detective Sergeant Iain Pearson, who has been liaising with schools, added: “Many websites which feature intimate images are based overseas so it can often be very difficult to protect people or to follow up prosecutions.

“Cleveland Police takes any report of indecent photographs of children extremely seriously and will do everything possible to protect children in our area. If you do have any concerns please report them."

He said parents and children were often uncertain about what to do if an under-18 had shared pictures, and could find out more about intimate picture sharing by visiting www.cleveland.police.uk/advice-information/17561.aspx .