Behind the scenes with Strikeforce Trawler, NSW Police‘s anti-paedo squad

Strikeforce Trawler have never lost a court case despite targeting the slimiest and most anonymous online paedophiles - now they are revealing how to keep kids safe online.

Pictured at NSW Police Force Headquarters in Parramatta is Detective Senior Constable Antonio Alfaro from Strike Force Trawler. He is part of a team hunting down loathed paedophiles by infiltrating dark web communities and carry out high profile arrests when they emerge to meet their would-be victims. Picture: Richard Dobson

They’re the secretive NSW Police squad with a staggering 100 per cent conviction rate against the most depraved and cunning criminals.

Now Strikeforce Trawler has pulled back the curtain to reveal how they’re disrupting the sinister hideouts of online paedophiles and sharing the tricks they use to keep their own families safe.

Trawler is an ongoing investigation run by the Child Exploitation Internet Unit that has been renewed every year for 15 years.

Detective Chief Inspector Chris Goddard has managed the Child Exploitation Unit for a decade and said Trawler is one of the few opportunities police have to proactively stop child abuse from happening.

How to keep your kids safe online

Strikeforce Trawler’s detectives say parents and carers play a crucial role in keeping young ones safe. Here are the strategies they use with their own children.

 

1. Any app or platform that allows users to contact strangers allows offenders to reach children.

2. Teach kids that “once you post something - you no longer own it”. That goes for selfies and personal information which should never be shared online.

3. Parents and carers should be approachable so children can feel comfortable revealing when someone strange has contacted them online.

4. Have regular conversations with kids about what’s acceptable and what’s suspicious behaviour online so they recognise it.

5. Ensure you can access your child’s online accounts to randomly check until they’re old enough to use the internet safely.

6. Encourage children only to use online devices in common areas of the home - rather than in their bedroom.

 

And remember, DSC Alfaro said, “the old man in a white van as the classic paedophile doesn’t exist anymore. That’s the scary thing.”

The proliferation of the internet has done away with the “stereotypical” paedophile, he said, so Trawler’s hunting ground is constantly changing with every new app and website.

“We arrest people from all walks of life - businessmen, tradies, professionals, car salesmen, lawyers, accountants or unemployed,” he said.

The only common denominator is the offenders are almost all male - the very few females nabbed by Trawler were acting on behalf of men.

Detective Senior Constable Antonio Alfaro said he begins each case assessing whether the suspect is trying to collect child abuse material or escalating toward a “contact offence”.

That’s Trawler-speak for grooming a child online in order to meet up and abuse them.

The higher the risk, the quicker Trawler swoops, DSC Alfaro said.

“We are very thorough, we do our research and by the time we knock on (a suspect’s) door we know who they are and there is no place for them to hide.”

“It’s very rare that they will get away or go back into hiding.”

Detective Senior Constable Antonio Alfaro from Strike Force Trawler, who hunts down loathed paedophiles by infiltrating dark web communities. Picture: Richard Dobson

Trawler’s arrests were already growing year-on-year before the pandemic lockdowns forced society online for work and school.

Now Trawler’s workload is exploding to the point the squad just added 10 more detectives.

They arrested a record 57 accused online predators in 2020 and are expecting to clear 60 arrests in 2021.

Trawler boasts a perfect conviction rate and its 22 detectives are proud they have never lost a case in court.

But the work requires the officers to spend days, weeks or months undercover in the seediest backwaters of the internet chatting to perverts.

They are across social media, chat rooms and even in “the dark web - where nothing good happens”, DSC Alfaro said.

“Our main business is purporting to be kids on that platform.”

“Or sometimes, if we are talking to adults seeking children (to abuse), we will then purport to be an adult with similar interests.”

The hardest part of the job requires the officers to view or listen to child abuse material daily.

For Detective Senior Constable Susanne Dahal the worst part is the sound - which she describes as “traumatic”.

“I compartmentalise it. This is what I have to do to get them in front of the courts,” she said.

The officers go into soundproof offices or turn the volume right down on the heinous videos to spare their colleagues.

“Someone has to do it,” DSC Dahal said, likening it to paramedics being first on the scene at a horror accident.

A few metres from her desk, in the NSW Police Parramatta headquarters, stands a whiteboard with a list of suspected paedophiles and their online aliases.

DSC Alfaro came to Trawler seven years ago after a background in the drug squads of Sydney’s west.

Detective Senior Constable Susanne Dahal from Strike Force Trawler. Picture: Richard Dobson

The job is hard, he says, but when a creep shows up to “a meet” expecting a vulnerable child and finds only detectives - he is reminded why he’s doing the job.

“When they show up to meet us and they’ve brought their gifts, and they see us… there’s nothing greater than putting the handcuffs on them,” he said.

DSC Dahal, who came to Trawler in April from the NSW Police proactive units, said the pressure is immense but each arrest prevents “a child being scarred for life”.

“There’s no better place for me, knowing I’ve removed someone who wasn’t in a good place,” she said.

Trawler boss DCI Goddard offered a message to would-be child abusers who are looking to contact kids this Christmas holiday.

“Do not be surprised if one day the person you think you’re talking to isn’t a 13-year-old boy or girl - it’s a very experienced detective knocking on your door to arrest you.”