Every police force and law enforcement agency has the capability to investigate images held on computers

National Policing Lead for Cyber-crime, Deputy Chief Constable Peter Goodman said:

“There has been an exponential rise in people using digital technology as part of their daily lives; that rise includes criminals and people viewing images of child sexual abuse. These people try to hide what they do online.

“It is a challenge for police to find and sift through the millions of these images and analyse them as quickly as possible so that they can be passed on to investigators who can take action to protect the children involved or others who may be at risk. This is part of the wider challenge for police to transform the way they deal with cyber-crime in a period of fiscal constraint while also protecting communities from the more traditional sources of harm.

“Every police force and law enforcement agency has the capability to investigate images held on computers and ability trace people’s use of the internet for illegitimate purposes. There’s been an increase in the numbers of people working in high-technology roles, such as forensic examiners, within police forces and the majority of their work focuses on child sexual abuse. Police have improved systems for prioritising images and are using better technology. Police forces work closely with the National Crime Agency and Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) who lead on tackling online child abuse. But there is more to do.

“We are reviewing our capability for digital investigation and intelligence-gathering. We’ll then be able to provide evidence-based advice to chief constables about how they manage their resources to deal with crimes committed in the digital world.

“Protection of children here or abroad is at the heart of policing. Back in July police arrested 660 people for this crime, showing that offenders leave a digital footprint that police will find. We are working hard to continue to speed up our processes so that we can protect children and stop offenders sooner.”

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The ACPO Press Office can be contacted via 020 7084 8946/47/48 (office hours) or via 07803 903686 (out of office hours).

The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) is an independent, professionally led strategic body. In the public interest and, in equal and active partnership with Government and partner agencies, ACPO leads and co-ordinates the direction and development of the police service in the United Kingdom. In times of national need ACPO, on behalf of all chief officers, co-ordinates the strategic policing response.

ACPO’s 295 members consist of 213 chief police officers from the home forces of assistant chief constable rank (commanders in the Metropolitan Police and City of London Police) and above, plus 55 senior police staff members from the 44 forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Non home forces such as British Transport Police have 24 chief police officer members and there are three members from the Service Police.