Ryan has been working as a Case Officer in the Online Investigations Team for three years, specifically focusing on investigating Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (CSAE) cases.
“I was originally a major crime detective with Devon and Cornwall Police and was lucky enough to get recruited into the SWROCU. I love the job and team that I work with.”
A typical day
“On a normal day my first job is to review the information which has been produced by the undercover operatives (UCOs) who have engaged with potential offenders on social media platforms.
“I review the UCOs deployment notes and also look through the online communications (chat) captures, which I summarise on a rolling intelligence Excel spreadsheet so it can be disseminated to other members of the team. Collating the information in this way allows us to identify if there are any children at risk and recognise and identify offences.
“We have a team meeting every morning via Microsoft Teams looking at the information which has been produced by the UCOs the previous day or evening. As a Case Officer, I read out my summaries to the other members of the team of the offences I have identified, and my supervisors make a decision as to whether to make an individual a person of interest (POI) and how to move forward with that particular offender.
“I’m then allocated a case and become the investigator for that individual. A notification will be sent to the relevant police force that we are building a case in relation to somebody who lives in their area and has engaged with one of our UCOs.
“In all the years I’ve been doing this job, I’ve never seen any indecent images of children. You are exposed to some explicit language and sexual talk, but I have not seen any indecent images because these are filed separately. If people in the team don’t want to see those images, it can be managed.
“The very fact that we’re bringing these sorts of offenders to justice and safeguarding many children is brilliant and fulfilling.”
From investigation to conviction
Increasingly, the team is owning its online CSAE investigations rather than passing them back to force, thus seeing them through from investigation and arrest, to court and conviction.
“If we’re dealing with an offender intending to meet who they think is a child, I take part in identifying, arresting and interviewing them while in custody. If we aren’t dealing with somebody that’s travelled but who’s still committed offences, I will assist in knocking on that person’s door, arresting them, taking them into custody, carrying out searches in their homes and seizing digital devices.
“One of the big differences with this job compared to my previous experience working in major crime is that the victim is not a real victim. It’s actually, of course, a police officer and that makes a big difference because your focus is purely on bringing the offender to justice and safeguarding others.
“Whether you have experience in a burglary squad or on a response team, if you’ve been able to identify that offences have been committed, you’ve considered what you could be arresting for, and you’ve preserved evidence, then you can become a Case Officer within the Online Investigation Team.
“For anything else you need to know, you will be supported and trained by your peers. We’re a tight-knit team and I’ve never worked anywhere like this where everyone supports one another and where wellbeing is a priority.”
*Name has been changed