Child protection/sex offence police.

Child protection/sex offence police.

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Discussion

shoehorn

Original Poster:

686 posts

142 months

Thursday 24th July 2014
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Sorry about the rubbish title,don`t know the correct title/s.
I was reading a story today of how some private tutor had abused children whilst supposedly tutoring them.

The police found many videos of abuse but no faces were shown,leaving them unsure of which children had been abused.
All of the parents of children who attended these sessions were offered the choice of watching each and every film in the hope(or not) that they may recognize a part of their childs anatomy!

The very thought of this as a human let alone being a father to young girls is horribly disturbing to say the least and I refuse to try to imagine how being given that option would feel as a parent.

It started me thinking about the people that have to deal with these scumbags daily and sift and sort through their despicable collections and then try to resume a normal life outside of work.
The effects,no matter how mentally tough you are must last a life time,I feel I would never be able to sleep again in that situation.
It would be foolish to think that no training is given but training can not prepare you for a lot of things in life.

My questions for those who do this sort of thing as a living,
When these films or photos are viewed does one person sit in a room or is it a group,does every film have to be watched,do the `watchers` have a finite lifespan,(are they only allowed to do a set amount and then transferred to a different section)are these people selected or do they volunteer and finally what do they do to mentally prepare for and then mentally extinguish this stuff afterwards?
This is a different level from dealing with fatal RTA`s and such in my mind,not taking anything away from those who deal with that mess.
I was just curious as to the sort of people who would endure such a career path.




Dibble

12,923 posts

239 months

Friday 25th July 2014
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We often get packages from CEOP. Arrest the suspect, seize computers etc. The Hi Tech crime bods work their magic and extract the data. As OIC I then get to sift and categorise any images/films recovered. Sometimes it's half a dozen, sometimes it's a few hundred, sometimes a few thousand, sometimes more.

To be honest, I've always managed to "switch off" when sifting. After a while, you just go into autopilot dragging and dropping the relevant images into the relevant category folders. In the viewing room you have to sign a disclaimer saying you understand you might see nasty stuff and are aware that occupational health are available if it upsets you. Every so often there will be images/video that make you go "What the...?"

More and more as specialist (CID, Public Protection) units are downsized, regular response/neighbourhood officers are doing this as well.

The rate of burn out in public protection (Domestic violence, serious sex offences and child protection) is staggeringly high. Every department is carrying vacancies but PPU are now investigating a LOT of historic jobs on top of the daily reports. There was an article in the Guardian a few days back about the level of stress/burnout.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jul/11/his...

Counselling is available. Many police don't like to ask for it for fear of being seen as weak (including by themselves).

tbc

3,017 posts

174 months

Friday 25th July 2014
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I'd imagine it would easier if the officers made notes of any birthmarks, moles, innie or outie belly button on the victims.

Surely it would be a bit easier for the parents than subjecting them to hours and hours of filth.

Gareth79

7,615 posts

245 months

Friday 25th July 2014
quotequote all
tbc said:
I'd imagine it would easier if the officers made notes of any birthmarks, moles, innie or outie belly button on the victims.

Surely it would be a bit easier for the parents than subjecting them to hours and hours of filth.
Yes it all sounds very time-consuming, unproductive and probably very damaging to the parents! I would have expected something like sets of "sanitised" still images to be produced, to allow it to be narrowed down, ie. show a couple of each victim, then more from each as it's narrowed down. I can't see anything good coming out of showing videos to the parents.

shoehorn

Original Poster:

686 posts

142 months

Friday 25th July 2014
quotequote all
Dibble said:
Interesting stuff.
thanks,I never thought that ordinary rank and file officers did this.
I imagined some place in London stacked with stuff and a group of poor souls spending their days sorting through it before going home and emptying a bottle down their neck.
I didn`t even consider that the workload as much as the work in its self was a problem,
It`s the same in any business,the decision makers and penny pinchers don`t allow enough influence from those that actually know what they are doing.

I did sort of guess that you would from time to time still be shocked at what you see,
I believed that man had an increasingly dark side but it seems that it`s always been the case and modern policing etc. has just exposed it further.
all the while being added to by the ever increasing number of immigrants,asylum seekers and organised former eastern bloc crime gangs etc.with shady histories who arrive and bring a whole new world of depravity.

I have a pal in the TSG who I asked about this stuff but he just grunts,drags his knuckles,clams up and says no fk that stuff,cant and wont do it!
I suppose the drive of being able to nail someone will compensate slightly but unfortunately as soon as I had enough evidence to convince myself personally(there must come a point when you just know you have your man)then it would be very hard to control my self around the suspect during interviews etc.
Even small things like how do you look another intelligent person in the eye while discussing what you are seeing,remain emotionally stable and then go home and look at your wife and children?
Wrong as it may be there must have been many times when many officers have thought "give me five minutes alone with him/her"I cant say I`d blame them.
I`d be locked up myself in five minutes,still holding the bloody,dented fire extinguisher!


anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 30th July 2014
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Gareth79 said:
I can't see anything good coming out of showing videos to the parents.
A prosecution and conviction that wouldn't occur without IDs is one possibility.


Pixelpeep7r

8,600 posts

141 months

Wednesday 30th July 2014
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I suppose it's all down to the mindset. Imagine what firemen see on a daily basis, children in cots etc.

I have one mate who was the life and soul of the party, got a job as a mortician and ended up being the most depressing person in the world to speak to. On the other hand i have a family member who works in one of the child protection agencies and did work on child murders for a good few years. Hes a top top guy, and really calm, reserved but great to talk to, always happy and would do anything for you.

Not a job for everyone obviously.

The only way i could get my head round it would be to think that i am doing a service to make sure that this type of stuff doesn't happen to more people, and that by witnessing what happened, i could hopefully prevent it from ever happening again.

Durzel

12,214 posts

167 months

Wednesday 30th July 2014
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A lot of people tend to forget (or never even stop to consider) the sort of sights that first responders, including the rank and file Police, see when doing their jobs. When someone has a big crash it doesn't just get magically dealt with or cleaned up by robots so the rest of us can carry on with our lives oblivious etc.

That's partly why I've got absolutely no time for anyone who just blindly sizes up the entire Police (or other emergency services) force based on their own negative experiences, quite often when they were actually breaking the Law or deserving of scrutiny at the very least anyway. It's often the most vociferous people that suddenly need these same services in their hour of need, etc.

I don't think I could cope emotionally with the idea that I could be having an average day as a cop and then suddenly be called out to some road accident and be one of the first on the scene to see (and have to deal with rationally and professionally) the carnage. God knows how FLOs get themselves out of bed in the morning.

Guffy

2,310 posts

264 months

Wednesday 30th July 2014
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My misses is plod and monitored sex offenders for a few years, she's now working in the child protection unit.

Occasionally she needs to let off steam by chatting about stuff over a glass of wine, but seems to cope remarkably well.

Greendubber

13,093 posts

202 months

Wednesday 30th July 2014
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I work on a support group so we are tasked with searching for evidence in offenders homes. Most of the time it's recovering computers and memory cards etc but now and then we uncover printed images.

Certainly not a pleasant thing to look at but it's just a glance and then shoved in a bag. I'm able to just switch off to it though, if you didn't you would t last long.


Fab32

380 posts

132 months

Wednesday 30th July 2014
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I think it is all relative, I work in a child protection team and see the worst of the worst that humans can do to each other. It's shocking and it's upsetting but I don't want ever not be shocked by it, if/when that day comes it will be time for me to clear my desk and move on.

As individuals you pick up your own coping strategies but as a team we are pretty good, we keep an eye on each other and know when somebody is struggling and try to help out.

Sometimes the transition between home and work is odd but the drive home is good for perspective. Going from talking to child victims of sexual abuse to hearing the wife talking about the "parking nightmare" dropping the children off is difficult sometimes.

however, I could not be a first responder I was first on the scene of quite a bad accident as a member of the public a few years ago and I still don't like driving down that road.

We as humans are an odd lot

Greendubber

13,093 posts

202 months

Wednesday 30th July 2014
quotequote all
Fab32 said:
I think it is all relative, I work in a child protection team and see the worst of the worst that humans can do to each other. It's shocking and it's upsetting but I don't want ever not be shocked by it, if/when that day comes it will be time for me to clear my desk and move on.

As individuals you pick up your own coping strategies but as a team we are pretty good, we keep an eye on each other and know when somebody is struggling and try to help out.

Sometimes the transition between home and work is odd but the drive home is good for perspective. Going from talking to child victims of sexual abuse to hearing the wife talking about the "parking nightmare" dropping the children off is difficult sometimes.

however, I could not be a first responder I was first on the scene of quite a bad accident as a member of the public a few years ago and I still don't like driving down that road.

We as humans are an odd lot
Give me an angry crowd or deranged man covered in his own st any day of the week rather than your job. I couldn't do it, my other half is adult PPU and that's bad enough!