The purpose of FIIP The FIIP Project is a partnership of European law enforcements child protection teams and university academics with expertise in this field. The partnership is working together, developing innovative products to help law enforcement fight and prevent child sexual exploitation. The project was awarded a 1.4 million grant from the European Commission in 2012 to enable the partners to research and develop a range of tools that help law enforcement child protection teams across Europe safeguard children and identify offenders. The project aims to: - Develop a range of innovative tools that law enforcement agencies across Europe can use to assist with the risk assessment and prioritisation of cases. - Through the deployment of the tools, safeguard children and identify offenders. - Support law enforcement agencies to face the challenge of child sexual exploitation as a global issue, by improving collaboration between partners, including sharing best practice and establishing shared working practices to protect children across the world. This innovative project (FIIP) will provide invaluable tools for investigators to prioritise targets in the area of child sexual exploitation. Fernando Ruiz, Team Leader, Focal Point Twins, European Cybercrime Centre, Europol
Working in partnership Kent Police coordinates the FIIP project working in partnership with several organisations across Europe to share knowledge and understanding. In recent years, Kent Police has heavily invested in child protection and has one of the largest Paedophile Online Investigation Teams (POLIT) in the UK, working to identify victims, protect children from abuse, target offenders and risk assess suspects. In collaboration with the University of Liverpool, T/Detective Superintendent Matthew Long and Professor Laurence Alison developed the Kent Internet Risk Assessment tool (KIRAT) for use across the UK. The partnership consists of: Estonian Police and Border Guard Board established in Estonia The Police and Border Guard Board (PBGB) is the biggest state institution in Estonia. The service investigates both offline and online crime and works closely with cybercrime and digital evidence services. PBGB believe participation in the FIIP project will provide more effective results for their child protection work, considering the limited resources a small country like Estonia would otherwise have to work with. Mossos d Esquadra established in Spain The Generalitat Police Mossos d Esquadra is the police force of Catalonia. The force works on the FIIP Project through its Central Unit of Cybercrime, helping develop a range of tools, namely a national tool for risk assessing suspects involved in possession and distribution of indecent images of children. University College Dublin established in Ireland One of Europe s leading research-intensive universities, University College Dublin is assisting the FIIP project with digital forensic and cybercrime research.
Police Unit Rotterdam established in Netherlands The Dutch Child Exploitation Team (CET) from the district of Rotterdam is one of 11 teams in the Netherlands who fight against indecent images of children and child sex tourism. The National Police, Public Prosecution Service and Minister for Justice and Security have agreed to shift focus from those who download indecent images of children to the abusers, producers and distributors of indecent images, and the victims of these crimes. This has inevitably led to an increase in the number of investigations. The FIIP project is helping develop a range of tools for the Netherlands to help prioritise their workload and protect more children and identify offenders. University of Liverpool established in the United Kingdom The University of Liverpool is ranked in the top 1% of higher education institutions worldwide. With campuses in Liverpool and London and a partner institution in China, its pioneering reputation attracts students, researchers and partners from around the world. Liverpool is an innovative university that is passionate about inspiring students to learn and achieve and celebrates individuality and ingenuity. Professor Laurence Alison, a forensic psychologist, leads the research team that helped develop the FIIP project s flagship tool KIRAT (Kent Internet Risk Assessment Tool). Universitat de Barcelona established in Spain Dedicated to the creation, transfer and dissemination of cultural, scientific, technical and professional knowledge, the Universitat de Barcelona is contributing a research team of criminal and forensic psychologists to the FIIP project.
The work of the FIIP Project Development of the European KIRAT (Kent Internet Risk Assessment Tool) and exploration of other tools KIRAT aims to identify, from the available intelligence, individuals most at risk of committing contact child sexual offences, allowing police to take action to protect children. After rigorous testing, validation and an independent review, KIRAT was rolled out to UK law enforcement in May 2012. KIRAT received international recognition when in November 2013, T/Detective Superintendent Matthew Long and Professor Laurence Alison, were the recipients of the Excellence in law enforcement research award from the International Association of Chiefs of Police. The FIIP project explores cultural specificity across partner countries and, dependant on findings, will develop a KIRAT for each partner country and consider the possibility of developing a KIRAT for use across Europe. The project is also exploring other innovative solutions to law enforcement problems including whether prioritisation can be achieved when the offender is unknown (unlike KIRAT) and the development of tools that enhance victim and suspect identification and complement existing law enforcement tools. Improving cross-border cooperation Online child sexual exploitation is a global problem, and the need for law enforcement agencies across the world to work together to safeguard children has never been so important. In addition to the development of the tools, the FIIP project is identifying ways to improve cross border cooperation and collaborative working. The project has produced a comparative study of how each partner law enforcement agency investigates online child sexual exploitation, identifying best practice, differences in legal systems and recommendations on how cross border cooperation could be improved.
Especially in times of significant demand, the availability of a reliable, science-based and field tested system for prioritisation of targets is of invaluable importance for the police worldwide. Daniel Szumilas, Chair of Victim Identification, Interpol Specialists Group on Crimes against Children This project is an important step in building an evidence base that will continue to inform the development of tools that help investigators into child exploitation prioritise who they should target. Dr Ethel Quayle, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology, University of Edinburgh Find out more Learn more about the FIIP project at www.kent.police.uk/fiip or contact the project team directly via fiip@kent.pnn.police.uk