Child sexual exploitation (CSE)

FEATURE: A new report into artificial intelligence (AI) and online crime, published by the Alan Turing Institute, has warned that UK policing needs to “get serious” about the threat posed by AI or risk a rapidly escalating problem, with calls for a new taskforce to be based in the National Crime Agency to work with national security and industry partners to tackle the threat, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: The number of sextortion cases reported to the US National Centre for Missing & Exploited Children skyrocketed from 139 in 2021 to 26,000 in 2023, and the crime is now ruining young lives in countries around the world; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to cybercrime analyst Paul Raffile and financial investigator Detective Brad Thorne about the scale of the problem, the importance of police investigating cases, and the need to overcome challenges around international co-operation.

FEATURE: An independent review into regulating online pornography, undertaken by Conservative Peer Baroness Bertin, is calling for illegal online content to be given a renewed priority by police and the criminal justice system, to help reduce violence against women and girls as well as gain a better understanding of the links to domestic violence, toxic masculinity, and the mental health crisis among young people, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: A new report exposes the financial mechanisms that are enabling the online sexual exploitation and abuse of children on a global scale, as well as highlighting that financial institutions, tech companies and online payment platforms are also profiting from this “grotesque marketplace”, as Deborah Fry, Professor of International Child Protection Research at the University of Edinburgh and Global Director of Data for Childlight, the Global Child Safety Institute, explains.

FEATURE: A new report from the Vulnerability Knowledge Practice Programme analysing police-recorded child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE) highlights the scale of the crime, gaps in reporting, and threats that could contribute to further increases in CSAE, as well as legislation and other measures that could improve the police response, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: Given the volume of missing persons enquiries undertaken by UK police every year, and the importance of such investigations to communities, any approaches which can help to resolve enquiries or prevent people from going missing should prove hugely beneficial; former South Wales Police detective Steve Dodd, a subject matter expert on intelligence professionalisation and advocate of the community intelligence-led policing methodology (CILPM), sets out why he believes more effective neighbourhood policing backed by CILPM could deliver significant improvements.

FEATURE: A new report from the Financial Action Task Force explores the financial drivers behind the “heinous” crime of online child sexual exploitation, with the increasing prevalence of live-streamed sexual abuse of children and the financial sexual extortion of children creating millions of embarrassed and vulnerable young victims around the world every year, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INNOVATION: Following on from the recent Beyond Bureaucracy conference on artificial intelligence (AI) in the criminal justice system (CJS), independent policing and technology expert Giles Herdale explores some of the main opportunities and challenges facing police and the CJS in the successful development, adoption and implementation of effective AI technologies.

INTERVIEW: The Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) has launched new guidance on how forces and violence reduction units can adopt and implement the multi-agency focused deterrence (FD) approach to tackle serious violence, which international research shows has cut crime by an average 33%; the YEF’s Dr Stevie-Jade Hardy spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about how FD works, the guidance and ‘on the ground’ support offered by the YEF, and ongoing evaluations of the scheme in the UK.

INNOVATION: With the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) to generate online child sex abuse material (CSAM), a new report from the Australian Institute of Criminology has highlighted the potential of the new technology to be deployed in the fight against CSAM and to relieve some of the burden on human investigators – but also warns that many would-be AI solutions are still not fit for purpose, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: With the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) making the technology both more available and easier to use, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at law enforcement efforts to tackle AI-generated online child sexual abuse material – including last month’s success of Operation Cumberland, involving European, UK, Australian and New Zealand forces – as well as EU steps to tackle other damaging AI-generated online content.

ANALYSIS: When it comes to research and services for victims of adolescent domestic abuse (ADA), those aged under 16 are often overlooked by policies that focus on the adult domestic abuse (DA) agenda; Gloucestershire Deputy Chief Constable Katy Barrow-Grint and City St George’s, University of London Senior Researcher Dr Ruth Weir spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about new efforts to identify the scale and nature of the problem, and encouraging police forces to use technology to extract ADA data.

INNOVATION: Operation Makesafe is the nationwide policing initiative working with hotels and accommodation providers across England and Wales to target and prevent premises being used for child sexual exploitation (CSE); Richard Fewkes, Director of the Hydrant Programme and the CSE Taskforce, explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about how the initiative works, and the potential to expand to other sectors including fast-food outlets, taxi companies and vape shops.

INTERVIEW: Staffordshire Assistant Chief Constable Becky Riggs, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for child protection and abuse investigation, spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about the need for a public protection gold command accreditation to ensure senior leaders are well versed in the importance of multi-agency working and data sharing in ensuring the safety of children and young people.

INTERVIEW: The Chair of the Virtual Global Taskforce – the organisation now consisting of 15 law enforcement agencies tackling online child sexual exploitation – passed from the UK’s National Crime Agency to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in November; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to AFP Commander Helen Schneider about the goals for the Taskforce over the next three years, and why identifying AI deepfakes and protecting the wellbeing of police investigators will be among the priorities.

ANALYSIS: Police in England and Wales have, for the first time, collected and published detailed information gleaned from crime reports about child sex abuse and exploitation (CSAE) carried out by networks or groups, in a bid to put resources in the right areas and challenge assumptions with data along the way, as Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass reports.

FEATURE: With the “global health emergency” of child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSAE) reaching harrowing levels, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the work of Protect and Prevent Through Support – a Europe-wide initiative led by the Polish Platform for Homeland Security – in collating data and co-ordinating services to prevent CSAE.

FEATURE: A 27-year-old paedophile was creating cartoonish pseudo child abuse images and distributing them among an online network; Detective Chief Inspector Jen Tattersall from Greater Manchester Police’s online child abuse investigations team tells Ian Weinfass how the force managed to bring a case against the offender, and safeguard real children at risk.

FEATURE: A new report argues that ignoring the role of women in organised crime – whether as criminal actors, as vulnerable victims, or as policy makers and leaders in law enforcement – is creating a ‘blind spot’ in the response to such criminal activity, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INTERVIEW: Alex Finn, the National Police Chiefs’ Council digital youth engagement lead, spoke to Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass about a UK project to engage young people on social media, and why he thinks it should be rolled out further.

FEATURE: Ongoing research by Anglia Ruskin University’s International Policing and Public Protection Research Institute (IPPPRI) has highlighted the gap in support for families of suspects of online child sexual abuse, and vital role played by Indirect Victim Support Officers both in providing guidance and assistance for those families, and relieving the burden on officers investigating the case, as IPPPRI Associate Professor Dr Theresa Redmond explains.

INTERVIEW: With growing recognition of the potential law enforcement benefits of police partnerships with academia, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth spoke to Prof Babak Akhgar (Director) and Prof Saskia Bayerl (Head of Research) at Sheffield Hallam University’s Centre of Excellence in Terrorism, Resilience, Intelligence and Organised Crime Research (CENTRIC) about working with policing, the benefits and challenges of artificial intelligence, and encouraging officers to be innovative.

INTERVIEW: As the first National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for artificial intelligence (AI), National Crime Agency Director Alex Murray has a unique insight into how this tech is changing policing; he spoke to Policing Insight’s James Sweetland about the “brilliant work” developing police facial recognition in England and Wales, the dangers of deepfake evidence undermining the criminal justice system, and challenged “doomsters” who criticise an “overhyped version” of genuine police AI.

ANALYSIS: Every seven minutes a child is faced with harmful online content but as the threat grows, law enforcement is still playing catch up in its awareness of the risk the Metaverse poses to child safety. Policing Insight's Contributing Editor Sarah Gibbons reports on new research led by Professors Julia Davidson of the University of East London and Elena Martellozzo of Middlesex University that is seeking to redress the balance.