Javid announces ‘game-changing’ tech to boost fight against online child abuse

Police are to be given a new set of “game-changing” technological tools to help boost the fight against online child abuse.

According to the Home Office, the three new tools will help speed up investigations and limit the number of indecent images of children officers have to view.

The technology, which cost £1.76 million, aims to improve the capability of the Child Abuse Image Database (CAID) which holds millions of images.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid announced on Friday that, following successful trials, police forces across the UK and the National Crime Agency will have access to the new tools.

They include a fast-forensic tool that rapidly analyses seized devices against images on CAID, helping to free up police time.

Searching through a 1TB drive would previously have taken 24 hours, but with the new tool this is reduced to just 30 minutes.

Another auto categorisation tool uses an algorithm to help officers judge the severity of any illegal imagery found.

Indecent images of children are graded from C to A (the most serious), with officers currently working through up to 200 an hour.

The new image-categoriser will pre-sort images before officers view them, allowing for up to 2,000 to be processed in an hour, and marking a first step in reducing the psychological impact on investigators sifting through such imagery.

A third tool will help identify victims using scene matching technology to enable officers to automatically group series of images based on the individual in them, the location they were taken in and other markers.

Mr Javid said: “Vile predators who are creating, viewing or sharing indecent imagery of children are constantly adapting their tactics to evade capture.

“We must move at the same pace and evolve to ensure we catch these paedophiles, bring them to justice and protect vulnerable victims.

“This game-changing tech will help us do this and will be vital in the fight against online child abusers.”

National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for child protection, chief constable Simon Bailey said: “There have been year on year increases in reports of people accessing indecent images of children and as a service, we are searching more properties, arresting more suspects and safeguarding more children than ever before.

“The improvements to the Child Abuse Image Database will enable us to catch more offenders, rescue more children from harm and reduce the pressure and trauma on our officers from having to review every image manually.

“Accessing indecent imagery of children is not a victimless crime.

“The images depict the worst possible forms of child abuse and those who access them create a market for further images to be produced.”

The tools were developed in partnership between the CAID Innovation Lab and UK-based companies Qumodo, Vigil AI and Cyan Forensics.

Since it was introduced in December 2014, the Government has invested £18.2 million in the CAID programme.

CAID currently holds 13 million images, with this number growing 500,000 every two months.

Last month Mr Javid announced the Government’s plan to publish a child sexual abuse strategy covering its response to all forms of abuse.

It came after figures showed 140,000 accounts registered on the worst child abuse sites on the dark web are from the UK.

The NSPCC also revealed that cyber-related sex crimes against children had doubled in the space of just four years.

Andy Burrows, head of child safety online policy at the charity, said: “Any investment in tools that will help law enforcement better tackle the sheer scale of this criminality is a good thing.

“However, it is also vital that the Government holds its nerve and brings in comprehensive and robust new laws which will prevent such imagery being created and shared on social media platforms in the first place.”

In April, the Government published its white paper on online harms, which threatened tech giants with large fines and criminal liability for bosses of firms that do not comply with a new duty of care, overseen by an independent regulator.

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