AFP targets pandemic predators: Latest data shows a surge in the number of SA arrests for child exploitation offences
More deviants and predators are getting a knock on the door from the Federal Police as child exploitation arrests in South Australia reach an alarming new high.
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Child exploitation arrests and investigations have surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Australian Federal Police detectives are warning parents the full extent of the rise will not be known until all virus restrictions are lifted.
South Australia’s Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team (JACET), comprising AFP and SA Police resources, made 46 arrests from March to June, opening 67 new investigations. That compares with 17 arrests and 18 new investigations in the same period last year.
Nine South Australians were arrested by AFP detectives for online related offences – and charged with 44 offences – from March 9 to June 28, while heavy COVID-19 restrictions were in place. The AFP made three arrests in that period last year.
AFP Investigations Superintendent Gail McClure said online child abuse forums had grown while people had been spending more time at home.
“However, the full extent of the rise in offending against children during the pandemic may not be known until all lockdowns and isolation measures have ended,” Supt McClure said.
“What the higher number of arrests in recent months do show is that the pandemic has not stopped us investigating allegations and bringing offenders to justice.”
Nationally over the past year, the AFP has arrested 161 people on 1214 charges relating to child exploitation offences. Supt McClure said the average number of images seized from each offender had been steadily increasing.
“In the early to mid-2000s, a child sex predator had about 1000 images,” she said. “Now offenders are found with between 10,000 to 80,000 images and videos.” She said officers had to review thousands of distressing images and videos to identify child victims.
“But we are committed to this work which makes a real difference in a child’s life by removing them from a harmful situation or stopping others being abused,” she said.
“We need parents and caregivers to understand how their children are being targeted and how technology invites strangers into their kids’ bedrooms.”
In the latest case, Craig John Frost, 36, of Kingston, appeared in Millicent Magistrates Court last week accused of possessing “abhorrent” child-abuse material and engaging in sexualised role-play chat, intercepted by Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who tipped off Australian authorities.
Frost was charged with two aggravated counts of possessing child exploitation material and one count of possessing or controlling child abuse material obtained or accessed using a carriage service.
He was remanded on continuing bail to appear in Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in September.