New Technology Helps Reduce Trauma for Child Abuse Investigators
Another child disappears. Another news story. Another set of parents left to deal with the unimaginable grief of losing their child. It happens too often. Children are among the most vulnerable members of our society. Tragically, this also means they’re the victims of some of the most cruel and violent crimes.
Every day, children around the world are victims of sex trafficking, kidnapping and abuse—an epidemic that shows no signs of slowing.
In 2022, the CyberTipline of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received more than 32 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation.1
Law enforcement officials dedicate themselves to the brave yet harrowing work of investigating these cases in hopes of helping these children, yet this often comes at a heavy psychological price. New technology may be able to reduce the growing number of trauma cases surfacing in the investigators community.
As technology advances, crimes against children are increasingly documented online. Many predators groom their victims through the use of smartphones, apps and chatrooms. They may visit pornography websites or solicit sexual acts on the dark web. This means offenders are leaving a digital trail.
It’s no surprise then, that 73% of agency managers surveyed in Cellebrite’s annual Digital Trends survey say that digital evidence significantly increases case resolvability. Additionally, access to digital evidence helps improve case closure rates, shorten investigation cycles and bolster prosecutors’ confidence in the case.2
The psychological impact on investigators
During the course of an investigation, an officer may have to view hundreds or even thousands of distressing images and videos of child abuse. Often this material needs to be viewed repeatedly to map evidence and identify victims or perpetrators. Specific details of furniture, backgrounds, clothing, faces or body parts may need to be manually identified and logged. The NCMEC’s Child Victim Identification Program alone has reviewed more than 322 million images and videos of suspected abuse.3
While this is crucial work, these images and videos cannot be unseen. Viewing such harmful material can have a lasting psychological impact on law enforcement officers. Studies have shown this work can result in secondary traumatic stress (STS), burnout and compassion fatigue.4 It may also trigger psychological side-effects including depression, anxiety, and insomnia.
In one study, 36% of law enforcement officers reported moderate to high levels of secondary trauma from being exposed to disturbing images.5 Another study found that crimes against children investigators have unintended thoughts about victims or cases outside of work hours and are more likely to use alcohol as a coping mechanism.6
Reducing emotional harm with technology
By developing digital intelligence competencies and leveraging capabilities such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning algorithms, investigators can streamline the process of collating, analyzing and reporting on evidence.
One solution is Cellebrite Pathfinder, which can ingest digital data from a variety of online sources and mobile devices. It can help investigators to filter and analyze content using algorithms driven by machine learning.
These tools can lessen the psychological impact on investigators by flagging similar faces, objects, locations and themes within pieces of media, and categorizing them according to case requirements. This can reduce the number of images and videos that investigators need to manually review, and how many times they need to view them—potentially reducing the chance of secondary trauma.
Technology can also improve the overall efficiency of investigations. Cellebrite Pathfinder’s algorithms can map evidence and draw connections between perpetrators and victims faster than a human investigator. While human input is still needed, this can dramatically speed up the time it takes to locate and rescue victims. Forensic reporting capabilities and seamless integration to hash data sets can also help departments to collaborate and bring criminals to justice faster.
Investigators of these crimes do some of the world’s most important work— helping to shut down child abuse networks, rescue victims, prosecute offenders and reunite lost children with their families. Yet society rarely considers the emotional impact this work can have on investigating officers. It’s crucial that we leverage all the digital intelligence tools at our disposal to help them continue their life-saving work.
References
1 https://www.missingkids.org/cybertiplinedata
2 Cellebrite Industry Trends Survey for Law Enforcement, 2023.
3 https://www.missingkids.org/theissues/csam
4 Levin, A.P., Putney, H., Crimmins, D., McGrath, J.G. (2021). Secondary traumatic stress, burnout, compassion satisfaction, and perceived organizational trauma readiness in forensic science professionals. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 00, 1-12.
5 Perez, L. M., Jones, J., Englert, D. R., & Sachau, D. (2010). Secondary traumatic stress and burnout among law enforcement investigators exposed to disturbing media images. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 25(2), 113-124.
6 Clifford N. Krieger III, Understanding the impact of secondary traumatic stress on crimes against children investigators, May 2017.
