Just 15 years ago, with the internet in relative infancy and when comms still meant the phone or fax, Jim Gamble could never have imagined the project he is now overseeing.

The former member of the Royal Military Police and veteran detective, who had seen action in counter-terrorism ops in Northern Ireland as well as serving as a DCC on the National Crime Squad, would scarcely have believed that his skills would be put to the test on a new digital child protection front.

But four years ago, as the first CEO of the Child Online Exploitation and Protection Centre (CEOP), he found himself in exactly that position, leading a team that remains unusual in policing and consistently evolving to stay a step ahead of criminals.
¬Obviously the well-being of those who undertake this work is a key priority¬
“The launch of the Centre in 2006 represented a step change in law enforcement,” Mr Gamble recalled during an interview at the CEOP HQ in Pimlico, south London. “Police officers, child protection specialists, representatives from industry, charity and government had never before been brought together under one roof with the single aim of protecting children.

“Although we are police-led – we are currently affiliated to SOCA – our partners range from charities including the NSPCC to companies such as Microsoft. We also have some 50,000 CEOP volunteers, including police officers, youth leaders and teachers, using our free educational resources and running internet safety courses for youngsters.”

By all accounts, CEOP is set apart from other law enforcement organisations in a number of ways. With a broad remit of supporting police investigations and child protection specialists at the front line, making sure would-be offenders are adequately deterred and educating youngsters on the dangers posed by the online environment is a demanding undertaking for the 120 mixed police and other professional staff, including psychologists, social workers and corporate representatives.

Yet despite the modest size there have been huge successes. Between April 2009 and March 2010 the Centre was involved in instigating and supporting investigations that safeguarded 278 children, with 47 victims rescued after investigations by the Centre’s Image Analysis and Victim Identification Team.

The emergence of CEOP – and its growth in the international law enforcement landscape – has certainly been rapid. The agency has its roots in two early police investigations into online child sexual abuse.

In 1998 Operation Cathedral delivered a result against one of the first known online paedophile networks known as the Wonderland Club following intelligence from the USA. An operation led by the National Crime Squad, and involving police in 12 countries, culminated in several arrests in what was later discovered to be a highly organised network of individuals, some of whom were abusing children in the real world and circulating the images online to other members.

But it was Operation Ore – which began in 2002 – that showed the sheer scale of the online child abuse. After the FBI arrested the owners of US firm Landslide Productions, which ran a web portal offering child sex abuse images, federal officers retrieved the credit card details of 7,000 UK customers.

The haul of information spawned the largest operation of its type ever mounted. Aside from searching more than 4,000 homes and making over 3,000 arrests, detectives were often tied up for months in the forensic analysis of hard drives. It was a probe that pushed the police resources to the limits.

But the seizure of personal computer equipment more than proved the quality of the intelligence. With 1,451 convictions and nearly 500 cautions issued, the parade of those charged with making and distributing indecent images of children crossed the whole social spectrum, from caretakers and cleaners to teachers, priests and members of the legal profession.

As well as showing the burden a mass IT-related investigation could place on the police, the aftermath of Ore was met with public concern that more needed to be done to protect children online as well as deterring would-be abusers.

With the police, industry and child welfare charities all having an interest in online safety, the Home Office provided the base for the setting up of the cross-agency approach. From the outset, the CEOP partners have provided financial or ‘in-kind’ assistance and all are vetted before being allowed to join.

The Centre has a threefold approach to tackling child sexual abuse – looking at the offender, child and environment. Staff at the Intelligence Faculty receive information from range of sources, including law enforcement agencies, and develop them into actionable intelligence packages to domestic and foreign law enforcement agencies.

Colleagues at the Operations Faculty are on hand to help support forces faced with the sharp end of police work, aiding with issues such as victim identification and covert investigations, while the Harm Reduction Faculty is dedicated to education about online safety and highly specialised training for front line officers.

However, Mr Gamble admitted that the combination of dealing with harrowing offences and fitting into a complex arena demanded a diverse policing skills set, which not everyone possessed.

“We have officers here who have been seconded from a range of forces, as well as some staff from SOCA,” he said. “However, we have found that there are some very able detectives in other areas of policing who struggle here. Conversely you find that there are people from other organisations that are very good.

“There is a very robust psychological screening programme in place for those who join and we take their health extremely seriously. Obviously the well-being of those who undertake this work is a key priority.”

There has certainly been plenty of talent through the doors of CEOP, with staff at the centre pioneering offender management structures that are unique in policing.

These include the CEOP Behavioural Analysis Unit, where convicted offenders are interviewed in prison, enabling CEOP staff to forge a better understanding of mindsets, motives and methods of offending to develop better deterrence measures and to feedback to the front line officers via the training programmes. The ClickCEOP button – which is now a common feature on many social networking sites and provides help to young people who feel threatened online – was developed partly as a result of these interviews with offenders.

The Most Wanted section of the CEOP website has also proved to be successful. The area shows those on the Sex Offenders’ Register who have gone missing and solicits appeals for public help. The clear-up record is strong, with eight out of ten absconders found, and the deterrence value of being shown on the site has often proved enough to keep most offenders in check.

“Providing deterrence is obviously an important element of what we do here,” said Mr Gamble. “We ask how you can best inhibit a person in a way that makes them less likely to commit an offence in the first instance. The Behavioural Analysis Team, which is currently headed up by a Chief Superintendent seconded from Surrey Constabulary, is a key part of this process.

“The Most Wanted site has also been very successful for us – for deterrence to work for offenders, there has to be a consequence. If they decide to go missing, the consequence is that their picture and details are published.

“This approach does make offenders think twice because they do not want to be identified – remember that this is a crime with a stigma like no other.”

With the age of austerity looming, however, and the potential assimilation of CEOP into the new National Crime Agency, it is not clear exactly how the Centre will fit into the police landscape in future. But Home Secretary Theresa May is on record as saying that CEOP’s remit will continue in its role, and that the agency will also take on the national remit for missing children.

For Mr Gamble, both the police and their partners at CEOP must also pull together to weather the financial storm. “All of us need to operate in a way that saves the public purse but without compromising on the service we deliver,” he said.

“My commitment is to do just that – at the centre we will continue to work with government, the Police Service and across industry to find ways that we can build on all of our successes in an efficient manner,” the CEO concluded.