Over 130 suspected child sex offenders arrested in police raids
National Crime Agency calls for technology companies to do more to stop sexual abuse images spreading after massive crackdown
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Teachers, a children’s entertainer and a former police officer were among 131 people arrested on suspicion of online child sex offences as part of a massive crackdown by the National Crime Agency (NCA) and police forces across the country.
Over the course of a week-long operation, over 200 raids took place and 164 children were safeguarded, the NCA said.
Of those arrested, 19 held positions of trust and 13 were registered sex offenders, it added.
The news comes as home secretary Sajid Javid revealed at least 80,000 people in the UK are believed to pose a sexual threat to children online, and vowed to make it his “personal mission” to tackle this abuse.
UK law enforcement has called on internet giants to take more action to stop access to sexual abuse images and videos.
Technology companies doing more to remove indecent images from circulation would be a “monumental landmark” in child protection, the NCA said.
The task is made more difficult for officers by sophisticated encryption tools allowing more effective anonymity for online predators, it added.
“Investigators still have to deal with significant numbers of offenders committing preventable crimes such as viewing and sharing indecent images and videos known to law enforcement,” said Rob Jones, NCA lead for tackling child sex abuse. The technology exists for industry to design-out these offences, to stop these images being shared.”
The NCA received 80,000 referrals over indecent images and videos last year, and predicted that this trend is likely to “exponentially increase”.
The number of child abuse images referred to the agency have already surged by 700 per cent in the last five years.
“Whilst some online platforms have taken important steps to improve safety, we are asking them to take it to the next step,” said Mr Jones.
“That would significantly reduce the trauma to the victims whose images are shared, prevent other individuals from developing a sexual interest in children through accessing these images, and disrupt the methods used to access them.
“Securing agreement from industry to do this would represent a monumental landmark in protecting children.”
In June NCA’s director for vulnerabilities, Will Kerr, called for a “fundamentally recalibrated approach” involving internet service providers and hosting platforms to tackle these crimes.
“It is not sustainable for companies to simply identify indecent images on their servers and report it to law enforcement, when we know that technologically you can prevent it at source,” he said.