Posted on 09/04/2018 2:59:08 PM PDT by markomalley
British police said Monday that they arrested 131 suspects tied to online child sex offences last week in police raids, and are calling for the technology industry to increase its help in stopping the abuse.
Teachers, a children's entertainer and a former police officer were among those arrested in the police raids as part of a massive crackdown by the British National Crime Agency (NCA) and police forces in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Over the course of a week-long operation, more than 200 raids took place and 164 children were safeguarded, the NCA said.
The arrests were announced ahead of a flagship speech by British Home Secretary Sajid Javid, in which he made a "call to action" for technology companies, such as Facebook and Google, to do more to help combat online child sexual abuse as a part of a new government push.
The home secretary described tackling child abuse as his "personal mission" and claimed that "80,000 people in the UK pose a threat to children online."
Of those arrested, 19 held positions of trust and 13 were registered sex offenders, it added.
According to NCA, on average around 400 people are arrested in the UK every month for offences connected to child sexual abuse and exploitation.
Javid's speech followed the allegation last week by British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt that Google is refusing to cooperate with the UK in removing illegal content.
At the time, a Google spokesperson said, "We agree with Jeremy Hunt that child sexual abuse is abhorrent and must be removed, that's why we cooperate with governments to fight child sexual abuse online."
Without naming Google, the NCA has blamed technology companies for providing "encryption and increased anonymity on the internet" which it suggests is enabling offending.
Rob Jones from the NCA said: "Whilst some online platforms have taken important steps to improve safety, we are asking them to take it to the next step ... and to invest in preventing these online offences from happening in the first place."
According to the NCA, 225 warrants were executed by forces, and 164 children were safeguarded.
Last year, the independent surveillance regulator in the UK warned that innocent people had been arrested as paedophiles, with one family having their children taken away, because of errors in warrants.
British ministers are warning of the widespread use of encryption by technology companies following a meeting in Australia of senior political figures from the Five Eyes intelligence alliance.
The Five Eyes, composed of the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, was accused of conducting global internet surveillance after Edward Snowden leaked secret documents to journalists in 2013.
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