German criminologist urges new strategies in combating cybergrooming

German police need to develop new online strategies to counter sexual grooming on the internet, a cybercriminologist at the police college in the state of Brandenburg said on Sunday.

Victims of cybergrooming needed to be able to access a children's online monitor that employed specialists from the police, psychologists and medical personnel, Thomas-Gabriel Rüdiger told dpa.

The criminology professor was speaking during the trial of a 30-year-old man in Germany for the murder of a 14-year-old schoolgirl in the south-western state of Baden-Württemberg, who had been threatened online for months in sexualized chats with the man.

German police statistics recorded 2,878 cases of sexual abuse last year in which children were targeted without physical contact.

Rüdiger said the figures were likely vastly understated. He pointed to the fact that ever younger children were being provided with smartphones and that young people were spending much of their time online.