Police will today begin testing a new computer system in the fight against child sex abuse images.
The database will for the first time allow officers across the country to share evidence, determine if images are new and help victims faster. The Home Office said the Met will be among the first forces using it by December, with others following next year.
Policing Minister Mike Penning said: “This is a watershed moment in this government’s drive to stamp out the despicable crime of online child sexual exploitation. Never before will law enforcement agencies have been so well equipped to prevent abuse, detect it, identify and protect victims and bring offenders to justice. The outcomes will be life changing, and in some cases life saving.”
At present, officers log images within their own force, meaning that other forces might be investigating the same images. It is also difficult to determine if a picture is a new image.
The £720,000 Child Abuse Image Database will see all forces and agencies working from and contributing to it. When officers find images, they will be able to load them on to the system where software will review them to determine which are new, allowing officers to identify victims quickly.
Johann Hofmann, product manager at Netclean which was involved in developing the system, said: “This puts the UK at the forefront of how to investigate this crime.”
