LPS In Focus: ICE & Digital Forensic unit

ICE Unit goes online in fight against child exploitation 

In the end, the reward is worth the struggle. 

For officers in the London Police Service’s Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) Unit, the reward is saving a vulnerable child.

The struggle is dealing with child pornography and people who prey on children over the internet. 

“At times it’s tough,” says Det. Grant Fair of the ICE Unit. “We are exposed to child pornography, and when you meet child victims it really brings the reality home.

“Anyone who has worked in this unit will tell you that there’s no greater satisfaction than saving a child who is being victimized.”

The internet has allowed a thriving global trade in child pornography to emerge in the digital world. Increasingly connected and interactive online apps, games, and social media sites are also presenting opportunities for predators to prey on, lure, and ultimately exploit young people who may not know how to protect themselves.

Det. Fair says online predators are savvy when it comes to taking advantage of young people. It may begin with harmless conversations, but when trust is gained, predators might ask for photos, and then blackmail kids to get them to do more explicit or dangerous things.

“It’s difficult for kids,” Det. Fair says. “They’ll be on social media and think, ‘I’m that person’s friend because they play with me on this game and they’ve never said anything bad to me.’ But predators ask them questions and find out where their weaknesses are. They groom them. They build up a young person’s trust, then they get them to do things that they know they’re not supposed to do.”    

In some cases, digital connections turn into real world meetings.

One such case, launched in 2013, uncovered a massive international child pornography web. Officers in what was then the Cybercrime Unit arranged an encounter with a local man who thought he was meeting a young girl he lured for sexual purposes. The man was arrested, and the investigation revealed that he was trading images and videos with thousands of people around the world. He was also counselling others to commit and record sexual assaults on children.

As a result of the investigation, police services in several countries were contacted, leading to children being rescued and charges being laid in Canada, the United States, New Zealand, and England. The London man was convicted of crimes related to child exploitation and sentenced to 6.5 years in prison.   

Another London man was charged with 11 offences in 2017 on a tip from police in Queensland, Australia, who discovered obscene photos of a child from London on a server based in Russia.

While successful investigations are satisfying, the work can be difficult for investigators, not only because the material is disturbing, but because child exploitation remains so prevalent. On average, the ICE Unit executes about 50 search warrants per year. In 2017, those warrants resulted in 168 charges related to child exploitation.

And that’s just in London.

For ICE Unit members, it can feel like an uphill climb. There are always more cases to investigate, and they have to stay on the cutting edge of online platforms being used to share child pornography. Investigations also involve seized cell phones, computers, and other devices that must be unlocked and searched for evidence.

While members of the Digital Forensic Unit are experts at accessing those devices and using digital information to pinpoint where and how obscene material was created, the technology is always changing. It’s challenging to keep pace with new – and very old – devices, as well as evolving techniques that predators use to hide their activities.

“It’s not just encryption or new technology that makes it difficult,” says Det. Cst. Jason Eddy of the Digital Forensic Unit. “There is also the fact that everyone has so much data and storage space now. There is a lot of material to sift through to find what we’re looking for to support the case. It can be a time-consuming process, but it’s very motivating when we rescue a child and catch a predator.”

Det. Fair says the first line of defence for kids is parents. There was a time when online activity happened on the family computer in the living room, but things are different now. With younger and younger children using cell phones and interacting with people online, often in private places, parents need to be active in monitoring what their kids are doing and with whom.

“Parents need to communicate with their children,” he says. “Know their passwords. Know who their online friends are, who they’re interacting with, and how. They don’t need to be friends online with people they don’t actually know. Help them understand what’s appropriate and what isn’t, and let them know they can come to you if something isn’t right.”

Visit the LPS Online Safety page to learn more about how you and your kids can stay safe on the internet.