Two arrested as part of national month of action to combat child exploitation

The ACT Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team (ACT JACET) has laid charges against a 48‑year‑old Duffy man as part of a national month-of-action targeting online child exploitation.

The man is the second person from the ACT charged during a national month of action during which 22 people were charged with 56 offences across Australia.

ACT JACET is comprised of ACT Policing (ACTP) and Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers, and executed the warrants as a result of information referred by the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE).

The 48-year-old has been charged with Possession of Child Exploitation and will be summonsed to face court.

This arrest came after a 43-year-old Greenway man had also been arrested and charged with possession of Child Exploitation Material and using the internet to obtain child exploitation material.

ACT Policing Acting Detective Superintendent Matt Reynolds said that the cases were unrelated, but the operational outcomes were a testament to the collaborative nature of the recently-formed ACT JACET.

“The Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team based in the ACT uses all the resources of the AFP and the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation,” Acting Detective Superintendent Reynolds said.

“We will continue to pursue anyone who harms children through the possession or production of Child Exploitation Material.

“These men have been charged with serious offences and the ACT JACET will utilise all technological advances available to detect the possession and sharing of child exploitation Material.”

Note to media: USE OF TERM ‘CHILD EXPLOITATION’, NOT ‘CHILD PORNOGRAPHY’

Use of the phrase “child pornography” benefits child sex abusers because it:

• indicates legitimacy and compliance on the part of the victim and therefore legality on the part of the abuser; and
• conjures images of children posing in ‘provocative’ positions, rather than suffering horrific abuse.

Every photograph captures an actual situation where a child has been abused. This is not “pornography”.

Media enquiries

Police Media — (02) 5126 9070, act-police-media@afp.gov.au