Fighting the Threat of Child Exploitation: The Role of Law Enforcement, Technology and Collaboration with Scott Ballantyne

It’s unthinkable, but some of the most vulnerable members of our society, way too often become victims of heinous crimes. Every year, tens of thousands of children are put in harm’s way whether it’s through kidnappings, violent attacks, sexual abuse, or online predators. To add insult to injury, the global reach and anonymity of technology and the internet have facilitated the creation, access and distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). It’s absolutely unacceptable, not to mention heartbreaking.

In this episode, Adam Firman is joined by Scott Ballantyne, Detective Sergeant at Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation. Scott has been tackling this growing and particularly horrendous form of crime for over 14 years, but his experience in law enforcement goes well beyond that. He’s seen the impact of technological advancements on the exploitation of children and has been at the forefront of using technology to combat the threat.

This powerful and thought-provoking conversation covered a lot of ground, from the challenges law enforcement officers face in their investigations and the role of technology and forensic tools in solving CSAM investigations to the psychological toll of investigating child exploitation crimes.

The pair also talked about Youth, Technology, and Virtual Communities, an important conference happening in Gold Coast, Queensland organized by Argos in the end of April bringing together law enforcement, NGOs, the private sector, academia in a collaborative effort to combat crimes against children. Moreover, newcomers to the industry and seasoned professionals alike will be happy to find out some really insightful advice from such an impressive individual as Scott Ballantyne.

Get ready for a fascinating and eye-opening episode!

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Scott Ballantyne’s Career Pathway: Twists and Turns

With a remarkable career spanning 25 years in law enforcement, including 18 dedicated to combatting child exploitation, Scott Ballantyne’s professional journey is truly impressive.

01:38 I joined the police in 1998 and my initial migration from general policing duties took place back in 2005, when I joined the Child Abuse Investigations Unit. And it was there at the Child Abuse Investigations Unit that I was introduced to the technological side of the exploitation of children. And, then in 2009, I had the opportunity to join what was known back then as Task Force Argos. And I’ve been there ever since. What’s that coming up to? Oof, too long, I would suggest, but 14 years in total. And yeah, and it’s been an interesting career path. And it’s always got its twists and turns, in particular with the obstacles that we face with the evolution of technology.

The job is always unpredictable, but the focus never changes: Keep victims from harm’s way

The unpredictable nature of working in law enforcement, especially in child protection roles, is a fact well known to people in the industry. Despite the challenges presented by evolving technology and various obstacles, the work is always focused on the safety and well-being of victims. The day-to-day experience is complex, but the ultimate goal makes every shift worth it.

02:58 You just don’t know what you’re going to walk into. You’ll walk into the office, and anything could transpire. The day will start with the caffeine hit to get the start to the shift. But then it’s straight into some of the UC investigations, in particular with a focus around the terminology of darknet, which is a term I don’t like to use because it almost glorifies that whole concept of obfuscation technology. And then it takes a myriad of paths. But ultimately, my work is victim-centric focused. So, I’ll always focus on the victims and ultimately, hopefully, identify who these victims are and then remove them from harm. With the evolving technology, as I referred to earlier, it presents us with different paths, different obstacles. It always turns that day into a very complex shift anyway.

Technology like Project VIC, CAID or AVID is a game changer for law enforcement

Solving more crimes – and doing so efficiently while considering law enforcement professionals’ wellbeing – often requires tapping into technological advancements, such as Project VIC and CAID databases. The latest technology transforms how police deal with images of Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, playing a vital role in the fight against CSAM.

04:15 It’s assisted us immensely. It also contributes towards our own database that we’re collating, or rather, that the Australian Centre is collating, referred to as AVID, the Australian Victim Identification Database. So, these databases are essential for identifying the material that’s been shared on the World Wide Web. And additionally, it also minimizes the exposure to that material to us as investigators, as well. So, they are instrumental in improving or enhancing our investigative ability also.

Challenges in cases related to child exploitation and other police investigations

Law enforcement offices around the world deal with similar sets of challenges, with encryption and the sheer volume of data making it top of the list almost universally.

05:57 Currently, off the top of my head, there’s two, and I think they’re probably synonymous across the globe with law enforcement. But initially, it’ll be encryption. So, whether that be the encryption thereof data, or alternatively, end-end encryption through communication across the internet. Secondly, it’s just the volume of data that we’re having to forensically examine. And even dealing with that size and scope of data. Ultimately, we still need the storage banks to store that data. So, A) it becomes very expensive. And B) it obviously becomes very problematic for investigators to scan all that data to hopefully establish if there are any actual child victims that are yet to be identified.

Sifting through all the evidence would be impossible to handle without access to forensic tools.

Law enforcement organizations are heavily reliant on powerful and innovative forensic tools aiding them in solving digital investigations.

07:32 Our resources and staff are a finite number. It’s always a struggle to try and navigate our way through these, just the size and nature and volume of the data that we’re having to deal with. So yes, it is becoming a big problem, because crime definitely isn’t decreasing by any means. 09:04 You could be walking away with 10 computers, 50 external storage devices, 3000 DVDs, they still come in their form of media and we’re even having to deal with the old VHS tapes. There was an investigation only recently in the last week that we were having to deal with VHS tapes. And it probably highlights the reliance that we have on our forensic tools to try and enhance that process and to make sure that we’re not missing any of those victims. So, It’s definitely forensic tools, we’re heavily dependent on them.

Discover more ways to increase the productivity of digital forensic labs as well as frontline law enforcement officers.

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Child exploitation in the digital age

The ethical and moral dilemma of balancing privacy concerns and the need to protect potential child victims of exploitation on the internet won’t be solved until global decisions are made to address this issue. Technology, such as using hash algorithms, can already be utilized to address privacy concerns while still identifying potentially harmful content, but it would require a global consensus to accept the solutions offered by technology companies.

10:41 Yeah, it definitely raises a sort of an ethical, moralistic sort of dilemma, doesn’t it? I can appreciate people wanting to protect their privacy. Myself, I’ve concluded that Google owns all my personal information already. But yeah, I suppose it’s a global decision that really has to be made sooner than later. Because ultimately, we can’t keep turning a blind eye to the potential child victims that are getting exploited through technology or the internet generally. 11:34 And I’m sure there’s avenues to adhere or listen to those who have concerns about the privacy of information. There’s technology that can do it. It could be something as simple as just using hash algorithms to compare against the actual content. So, the content might not be seen or observed by any of these corporations. They can just match them through their hash values. And so, there are means. But once again, it’s going to have to be a global decision where everybody’s prepared to accept the solutions that these companies might offer to sort of address that personal privacy.

The “Youth, Technology, and Virtual Communities” Conference

The eighth edition of the conference will take place between 26th – 28th April 2023 on the Gold Coast Queensland.

13:05 It’s once again a great another great opportunity where we can now reinvigorate the conference and provide an opportunity for NGOs, private sector, law enforcement, to all come together with that common goal of trying to make this world a safer place for our children. So, yeah, it’s wonderful that we’re back again and late April. It’ll be great to obviously harness and leverage all the capabilities and knowledge from everyone that will be participating. So, it’s a wonderful occasion.

Advice for newcomers to the industry and for seasoned pros

What career path could be more rewarding than one that allows you to give a voice to the voiceless and fight for the most vulnerable members of our society? Working in law enforcement is a gargantuan endeavor, only made possible through teamwork and partnerships.

15:27 It’s rewarding because we’re talking about dealing with crime where our victims, generally speaking, don’t have a voice. So, to be part of a team, and I mean that sincerely, because at the end of the day, we can’t do all this work ourselves. So, we’re always harnessing the partnerships that we have, whether it be with the private sector or our colleagues in other international law enforcement agencies. So, to me, it’s a rewarding career by just having that opportunity to provide a voice to these victims that can’t necessarily speak on their own behalf.

But additionally, it still requires an air of resiliency. As you mentioned earlier, there is a lot of material, a lot of things that we’re exposed to. I will never say that I have seen everything because there’s always something around the corner that just shocks me. And you’ve just been taken aback by what is presented in front of you. So, yes, I’d say definitely it’s a very rewarding career. But resiliency is definitely a very important attribute that’s required to provide you with a sustainable career in this particular crime time.

Criminals are usually five steps ahead. We need to catch up.

Whether it’s collaboration among different members of a police department or partnerships with digital forensic companies, the only way to ensure the success of your investigations is if you don’t go at it alone. We all progress and advance because and through each other.

17:28 I think that it’s beneficial to have that sort of foundation, somebody that’s familiar with computing, whether they’ve got any background in any particular coding. It is always beneficial because we’re having to use those skills on a daily basis to try and circumvent the bad guys we’re trying to catch because they’re always five steps ahead of us at the best of times. So, we need every advantage that we can secure. And that includes having colleagues that do have that foundation or understanding or those extra abilities to be able to perform that role of a coder or a network administrator. 20:34 And it’s a case of we’re leveraging or trying to address our weaknesses that we have in our organizations and we need to fill those weaknesses somehow. Otherwise, we’re never going to be successful in our investigations. So and it’s leveraging strengths from other agencies, the private sector, trying to come together to combat this scourge, so to speak. And the only way we’re going to do that is through our tools or software or our own attributes and skills. We’re going to be able to achieve it together.

For more ways to ensure the success of your investigations, check out our guide.

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Addressing mental health concerns at both an organizational and an individual level

More often than not, law enforcement professionals won’t be the first to acknowledge the toll their line of work can take on their well-being. Still, given the potentially horrific content that they are exposed to almost daily, they need to be able to “switch off” when they get home. This is some advice from Scott Ballantyne on how to do that.

21:59 We’re quite fortunate with our organization that has a quite robust welfare policy. And in addition to that, we’ve got plenty of resources, whether it be internally or externally that are offered to us. So I think from an organizational perspective, we have a really good backbone for looking after our staff. And ultimately, we’ve also got to look out for each other. So, you know, just being mindful of the behaviors or any behavioral change in our staff. So, we’re pretty much doing very well in that aspect. And then just my advice to my colleagues or staff, it’s I always encourage them to take on some external activities beyond our careers. I also only encourage them to have a circle of friends outside of the law enforcement circle or family. Because you do need to disassociate yourself from the work that you do on a day-to-day basis. So, it’s a case of being able to be forthright and honest and having confidence in that whoever you talk to, they understand what you’re going through. And then also in conjunction with maintaining a very healthy lifestyle – it’s crucial because some of the content we look at is quite horrific.

Thank you for joining us on the third episode of Forensic Fix.

Written by: MSAB
19 Aprile, 2023