CSE is a key focus area for UK police forces, but investigating these appalling crimes poses huge challenges. According to the NSPCC, online grooming crimes in the UK have increased by 84% since 2017. Despite that, there was a 50% fall in prosecutions and a 45% fall in convictions between 2016 and 2021.
By listening to police investigators and putting CSE subject-matter experts at the forefront of development, we’ve created a solution that can increase the efficiency of investigations by up to 86% – a statistic which can mean the world of difference for vulnerable children and their families.
The problem is that while CSE reports rise, police forces remain underfunded and under-resourced.
Investigations into online CSE are varied, complex, and painfully time-consuming, putting significant pressure on CSE teams’ limited resources. And the distressing nature of the evidence is often detrimental to officers’ mental health, so CSE teams face high turnover and skill shortages.
Unfortunately, that’s not all forces have to contend with. CSE activity is constantly evolving as offenders adopt new modus operandi and tactics to avoid detection. Forces need to share knowledge and train officers to stay one step ahead of criminals—and there’s no room for error. Overlooking one key piece of evidence or failing to act quickly enough could leave children at the mercy of a predator. At the same time, charging or even questioning an innocent person could ruin their life, as they may never be able to escape the suspicion of being an abuser.
These are enormous challenges, but at SAS, we’ve been working with police forces across the world including the UK, to find a way forward by introducing new technology. In my experience, most CSE units currently rely on very basic tech, using spreadsheets and documents to manage their case load, and processing referrals manually.
The result is that officers spend hours rekeying data from one document into another. It’s difficult to keep data organised, and there’s no easy way to search for information, make connections with previous cases, or visualise the current state of the investigation.
By listening to police investigators and putting CSE subject-matter experts at the forefront of development, we’ve created a solution that can increase the efficiency of investigations by up to 86% – a statistic which can mean the world of difference for vulnerable children and their families.
We’ve piloted this solution successfully with several police forces in the UK and around the world. One of its key features is to accelerate the review of data submitted as part of CSE referrals and automatically assess the risk in each case. In cases where the data contained evidence of potential CSE offences, the risk was visible within 30 seconds of the start of the review. On average, the solution helped officers reduce the time spent searching for intelligence from 6.5 hours to just 45 minutes, and increase the amount of evidence discovered by 73%.
Not only that – the solution can reduce the amount of distressing material officers review by 75% In one case, it highlighted 81 relevant lines that contained complex investigative leads, scattered throughout a text of over 13,000 lines – this is achieved by bespoke technology which focusses on the objective of this crime type. These lines helped to identify the suspect’s name, age, address, and other details, as well as the children they had access to, the criminal acts they had committed, and the likelihood of imminent risk that would require an immediate response.
With the right tools, forces can combat their ever-growing case load. Solutions like ours can help CSE units make much more effective use of their resources and focus on active investigation, not routine administration.
In another case, the solution identified connections between several dozen reports and linked them into one investigation. It joined the dots for investigators and helped highlight the threat posed by a prolific offender.
It just shows that with the right tools, forces can combat their ever-growing and complex case load. Solutions like ours can help CSE units make much more effective use of their resources and focus on active investigation, not routine administration.
The greater the efficiency, the quicker officers can respond and protect children at risk, catch predators, and assemble the evidence needed to secure a conviction. Replacing manual tasks with automated workflows also helps to eliminate human error—reducing the risk of offenders slipping through the net and protecting the innocent from wrongful accusations.
Extract risk, based on data points received at multiple stages of the investigation. Manage volume by taking 1000s of reports and categorising the into manageable chunks and we can use the technology to produce analysis of MO patterns, victim and suspect profiles.
Crucially, we can also help to protect officers’ wellbeing by avoiding unnecessary exposure to distressing content such as predators’ interactions and extreme images. By reducing the heavy toll that CSE investigations take on investigators, forces can avoid losing highly skilled officers and analysts to stress and other mental health issues.
Most important of all, as predators find new ways to exploit children and cover their tracks, CSE units can analyse their new modus operandi and stay one step ahead. And with more time available for training and outreach, officers can work proactively with the community to educate children, parents and schools about how to stay safe online.
