Almost 100 children safeguarded by one team this year so far

This year so far, the Police Online Investigation Team (POLIT) have safeguarded almost 100 children from dangerous online offenders.

POLIT form part of Essex Police’s Crime and Public Protection strand and were recently confirmed to be top in the country for securing charges in relation to online child abuse investigations.

Since the beginning of 2024, the team have carried out 82 warrants, with 34 of these deemed to be for very high-risk or high-risk offenders. As a result of these warrants, 73 arrests were made and 93 children were successfully safeguarded.

The team are continuing to develop and stay one step ahead of online offenders.

The ways in which online offenders are obtaining and sharing indecent images of children is changing, as demonstrated in the investigation into 58-year-old Daren Anthony Jones.

Jones was jailed for three years in May after pleading guilty to ten offences including possession of a paedophile manual, possession of a prohibited image of a child and taking an indecent photo of a child.

Jones had been storing these illegal images on two virtual reality headsets which were located following searches at his address in Chelmsford. This was the first investigation within the POLIT at Essex Police where indecent images of children were found on VR headsets.

The work of POLIT officers meant that Jones was arrested, charged and convicted within three days.

POLIT act quickly upon receiving intelligence around an individual accessing, downloading or sharing indecent images of children.

The work of the team recently resulted in a man being jailed for four years after repeatedly trading indecent images of children on dark web chat rooms.

Lewis Parker, 23 was arrested the day after intelligence was received about him accessing these chat rooms, allowing POLIT to seize the equipment he was using and gather the evidence needed to convict him on 10 May.

Detective Inspector Emma Portfleet said “We were so proud to recently be classed as the highest performing team in the country for these offences after securing 424 charges against 243 people in 2023. 

“However we are not becoming complacent with this success and continuing to work to improve our tactics, catch dangerous offenders and keep children safe.

“Our officers within POLIT are currently balancing 271 live investigations, and they view graphic and distressing evidence in order to continue protecting vulnerable children.

“POLIT’s investigation team will continue to be supported, so that they can continue achieving results like this.”