The AFP is rolling out measures to further protect Northern Territory children, including extra resources for child protection operations and reinvigorated online safety initiatives for children, parents and educators.
Some of the forthcoming measures form part of the AFP’s commitment to enhancing child protection investigations under the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse, which includes $3.9 million to enhance child protection investigations in the Northern Territory.
AFP Detective Superintendent Jayne Crossling said the measures would increase the AFP’s presence in the Northern Territory.
“The AFP is committed to working with partners in the Northern Territory to ensure that children are protected from online abuse,” Detective Superintendent Crossling said.
“The AFP will have stronger investigative, prevention and intelligence capability in the Northern Territory and an increased presence in the Northern Territory Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Team, which comprises of officers from the AFP and Northern Territory Police.”
The AFP will also expand our community outreach and engagement across the Northern Territory.
This week in Darwin, Detective Superintendent Crossling will also launch targeted recruitment efforts for program partner volunteers to deliver the AFP’s ThinkUKnow online child safety program.
ThinkUKnow is a law enforcement led program, delivered nationally to educate the community about preventing online child sexual exploitation. The program is facilitated in partnership with state and territory police, Datacom, Microsoft, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Neighbourhood Watch Australasia.
During the last financial year, the AFP, state and territory police and program partner volunteers delivered 257 presentations to an estimated 17,756 parents, carers, and teachers across Australia, including a mix of face-to-face and virtual sessions. The AFP and state and territory police delivered 2,515 presentations to an estimated 209,544 students across Australia.
The AFP has seen an increase in demand for the ThinkUKnow program demonstrated by the increase in delivery of presentations, and number of police members and program partner volunteers being trained to deliver the presentation. The demand shows the need for targeted education program on online child sexual exploitation, and the important role the ThinkUKnow program plays in the community.
ThinkUKnow addresses topics including online grooming, preventing inappropriate contact, sexting and self-generated content, sexual extortion, and importantly, how to report and where to seek help.
ThinkUKnow is a unique initiative, as it is developed using the evidence base of real case studies as a result of reports to the AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) and AFP investigations.
While in Darwin, Detective Superintendent Crossling will deliver a ThinkUKnow parent and educator presentation at a primary school and undertake volunteer engagement and training with police and partners, including the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
The recruitment and training efforts will boost the AFP’s ability to deliver more presentations to the Northern Territory community.
