It is not all darkness
In the foreword to last year’s NetClean report, I wished that the contents had been different – that the report was about a decrease, rather than an increase, in number of child sexual abuse cases. I also hoped that in the NetClean Report 2016, I would be able to talk about police officers seeing a positive development, with more children being saved.
This year, we follow up on some questions from last year, as well as take an in-depth look at how child sexual abuse material is shared and distributed on the Internet, via P2P networks, social media, on work computers and the darknet. The report is also about where in the world the children in the images come from, how large the investigations really are and the challenges that law enforcement face, such as encryption and anonymisation techniques.
Unfortunately, I cannot write that the problem is decreasing – the results show quite the opposite. It is a big problem and law enforcement and society face great challenges.
However, it is not all darkness, and to some extent I can actually write exactly what I wished for. An overwhelming majority of the police officers who responded to the survey said that they are better prepared to handle child sexual abuse investigations, compared to last year. Also, fewer police officers say that their workload has become more demanding. Above all, together they managed to save over 1,600 children in 2015. That is one thousand six hundred children who get another chance at a safe childhood.
Technological advancements are one reason for the improvement. More training, better resources and greater awareness of the problem in society is another. Collaboration between law enforcement agencies, public sector organisations, industry and NGO’s around the world is improving and child sexual abuse crimes are being more prioritised.
We still have a long way to go and much work to do, but these figures show that we are on the right path.
Together we make a real difference!
Fredrik Frejme
Head of NetClean