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January 26, 2005
Children urged to report online paedophiles to police
Britain
Children urged to report online paedophiles to police
By Chris Johnston, Times Online
A new website intended to snare online paedophiles anywhere in the world has been launched today.
The virtualglobaltaskforce.com site will act as a first central point of contact for both children and parents to report suspicious behaviour in cyberspace.
Developed by the UK’s National Crime Squad, the site will also provide information on using the internet safely and links to support agencies such as the NSPCC and Childline.
Detectives hope its distinctive logo, to be featured on the home pages of Microsoft, AOL and Vodafone, will become universally recognisable.
Jim Gamble, deputy director of the NCS, said: "Those who use the internet to search for and share images of child abuse or to approach children in chat rooms to groom them for sexual abuse must be aware that the internet is not an anonymous place."
He said that a poll this month showed 91 per cent of people believed there should be a police presence online to protect children.
Camille Stempel, director of policy for AOL, said: "If someone has something to report we would always help them to find their local police station, but their local officer might not be as au fait as one might hope with what to do with that information."
The site will put users in contact with law enforcement officers who will know what to do with the information, she said. "It’s very valuable to have somewhere the public can go to report things when they are uncomfortable."
The website has been produced by the recently formed Virtual Global Taskforce, which comprises the NCS and their counterparts in the United Sates, Canada and Australia and Interpol.
In the future it is hoped there will be a 24-hour presence online, with officers visiting chat rooms to discourage paedophiles trying to groom youngsters for abuse.
The system would see an icon appear on people’s screens to let them know of the police presence. And the police would engage with other users as police officers.
An NSPCC spokesperson said: "This is a huge step towards preventing individuals from committing child-abuse online. The NSPCC believes this represents a global effort to prevent child abuse images being available worldwide."
Posted by Nealus at January 26, 2005 02:47 PM
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