The minute a 13-year-old girl logs onto social media on her smartphone, she finds herself approached by a sophisticated predator with sickening, indescribable motives.
The online spaces she participates in are popular among young people, safe spaces for harmless fun with friends, but they're also home to countless visible monsters.
In this case, rather than talking to a child, the paedophile unwittingly approached an undercover operative within the NSW Police's elite special task force, the Trawler.
Detective Senior Constable Jenna Hammes spends much of her day scouring the internet for people seeking to lure and procure children for the purposes of sexual abuse.
“Unfortunately, it's very easy to find these types of people,” Ms Hammes told news.com.au.
“Once we know what platforms they're targeting, which are usually platforms that kids frequent, we can usually spot the perpetrator within the first few minutes.”
Match Child Protection Weeknews.com.au visited the NSW Police's Child Exploitation Internet Unit (CEIU), which is working around the clock to carry out two missions.
The first is to identify and rescue the young people depicted in child abuse material, and the second is to pursue those responsible for creating that material.
Once a monster is discovered, detectives race against the clock to track it down and bring it to justice, often relying on a global law enforcement network and advanced technological capabilities.
The child abuse material found together will be analysed by experts with the aim of identifying the young victims depicted.
It is perhaps the most difficult of all police jobs due to the confrontational nature of the job, which involves coming face to face with evil and exposing one to the worst suffering.
“In this role I've seen the worst of humanity, the worst of human depravity. I never knew people would want to do that or see that or hear that,” Hammes said.
“My eyes have been opened in ways I could never have imagined. I've seen things I would never want anyone to see. I've seen things that make me sick just hearing about them.”
Online, predators congregate within popular platforms, forums and chat rooms to lure their next unsuspecting victim.
“Sometimes it's purely sexual,” Hammes explains.
Children could be persuaded to send sexual images or videos, which could then be widely shared with other pedophiles for their own horrific gratification.
Disgustingly, sometimes these men (and overwhelmingly male offenders) “deeply desire a relationship with a child because they have no other functioning social relationships.”
“They may want that child to be their girlfriend or boyfriend, and that's really disturbing,” Hammes said.
“And sometimes parents want to meet and be the person their child has their first sexual experience with, and that can be really daunting.”
Many of these predators operate in fairly sophisticated ways, knowing which buttons to push and how to manipulate young minds, she said.
“They have similar scripts and by now we know they're going to say certain things. They all build their kids up by praising them, making them feel special and doing things that no one else will understand.”
“They explain how they can keep it a secret and see what kind of home life the children have. Often they target children who they perceive as vulnerable and have tough home lives because it's the easy way for them to do it. [in] If you feel there is insufficient supervision at home.”
While there may be a public perception that pedophiles fit a certain mold, Hammes said he has encountered predators of all ages.
A review of arrest and prosecution records over the past few years reveals that pedophiles operate in the education, healthcare, sports and recreation and legal industries.
“They range from middle-aged married men with children to people who are quite young,” she says. “I have no expectations about their background or their place in the community. In many cases, they are functioning members of society.”
“They are very manipulative and when I'm in that position it's hard to accept … the lengths they will go to to seduce a child and make them believe that this older person is safe and someone they would want to meet and have a sexual relationship with.”
“It was a real eye-opener to know that some people are capable of such depraved behavior.”
The rapid evolution of social media platforms and the formation of new online spaces presents challenges.
Additionally, new technological advances such as artificial intelligence are giving criminals new ways to hide their true identities.
“We are certainly seeing criminals using AI to pretend to be someone they're not,” Hammes said.
Of course, Hammes can't go home and discuss the horrors of the job with her family, but she is part of a close-knit team that offers her support and encouragement.
“They're amazing,” she said.
” [case]Even if it's my [case]Everybody works together. Everybody works together on investigations, search warrants, arrests, everything. Everybody puts in the effort. Nobody is greedy for time, everybody helps each other. And I think that's what helps us continue to move forward.
“Being in such a supportive environment, being with people that I can talk to about these things, especially being able to talk openly about things that upset me, that's important to me. [helps].
“The passion we all share is protecting children.”
The number of pedophiles infiltrating online spaces where young people congregate is far greater than the community would expect.
In some cases, the workload can be overwhelming for CEIU members.
“But if we can identify these people and charge them and prosecute them, it gives us hope that we might be able to save at least one more child,” Hammes said.
New South Wales Police
“And if I can come to work and give 110 percent and help as many kids as I can, that's what motivates me to get up in the morning.”
The study found that most young Australians get their first smartphone around the time they start high school, with half of them getting one between the ages of 10 and 12.
Data analysed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics 10 years ago revealed that children as young as five had their own mobile phones.
Earlier this year, digital wellbeing researcher and author Joanne Orlando told news.com.au that a “surprising” number of parents were not doing enough to educate their children about safety.
“You need to start having conversations about online safety as soon as your child starts using the internet, or they could get into trouble,” Dr Orlando said.
“Many social apps, such as TikTok, open up access to others parents may not know, people outside of their household, so there is a risk of random exposure.”
Hammes urged young people to be cautious when communicating with strangers online and to be suspicious of inappropriate material or requests for conversation.
“I think the Internet is very useful. You can make friends all over the world, and that's not a bad thing.”
“If your partner starts to show signs of wanting something more, like sexual intimacy or trying to get you to do something you don't want to do, trust your instincts.
“Please talk to someone before you send any photos because we've definitely seen an increase in sexual blackmail as well, with people believing they're meeting really great like-minded people.”
“Then they are encouraged to do things they wouldn't have done otherwise, and the results are really sad.”
Anyone with information about criminal activity is asked to call 1800 333 000 or Crime Stoppers
