Internet Watch Foundation

The UK Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre has launched its first year figures and presented the challenge ahead.

 

Peter Robbins, IWF CEO, said:  “The IWF works in close and effective partnership with the CEOP Centre and welcomes today’s figures which are a testament to their international links and successful holistic approach. The Centre has spearheaded advances in tracking and apprehending paedophiles who operate online and have reached out to thousands of children around the UK.”

 

76 children from across the UK have been rescued from sexual abuse environments by officers working with CEOP Centre during its first 12 months of operation and 83 child sex offenders have been arrested as well as the dismantlement and disruption of 3 major international paedophile rings – all with UK connections – as the battle against child sex abuse gathers pace. 

 

With an approach that is now being studied by other countries, the CEOP Centre has also delivered “safety first” training to over 750,000 UK school children with sessions looking at online internet safety. Around 2500 reports have come in to the organisation through its own dedicated online virtual police station.

 

Jim Gamble, Chief Executive of the CEOP Centre, said: “These figures speak for themselves.  Any offender looking to groom a child today online stands a good chance of grooming an undercover officer instead. That offender may also be speaking online to one of the 750,000 children we have now spoken to through ThinkuKnow who know how to spot deviant behaviour and what to do. 

 

“Our intelligence shows online gaming sites and mobile social networking areas are new areas where potential threats to children exist, while the explosion of sites encouraging the production of self-generated material means more children are putting themselves at risk by pushing the boundaries of what they are posting.

 

“The world is becoming increasingly hostile to child sex offenders. We will track you, we will arrest you and you will be held to account. That is what the CEOP Centre set out to achieve. Our results speak for themselves.”

 

Home Office Minister, Vernon Coaker MP, said: “We are glad to see that the CEOP Centre is concentrating on its core activity of child protection. In a time of technological advances and greater computer use we are pleased with the organisation’s ongoing success in protecting children through empowerment and bringing to justice those that prey on one of the most vulnerable groups in society”.

 

Ends

 

1.      The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre is a law enforcement agency and works in both online and offline environments.  Full information on all areas of work as well as online safety messages and access to online reporting can be found at www.ceop.gov.uk or for children at www.thinkuknow.net.  PDF versions of both the CEOP Centre’s Annual Review and Strategic Overview are available on the site.

 

2.      The CEOP Centre also represents the UK on the Virtual Global Taskforce (VGT) – an international alliance of law enforcement agencies dedicated to tackling child sex abuse with partners from the US, Australia, Canada, the UK (represented by CEOP) and Interpol bringing in another 184 international jurisdictions.  Further information can be found at www.virtualglobaltaskforce.com.

 

3.      Members of the public can register to receive updates on when new convicted child sex offenders are posted online by the CEOP Centre by visiting www.ceop.gov.uk/wanted.

 

Clive Michel and Miriam Rich

Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre

0870 000 3434