12th Europol Training Course on Combating the Sexual Exploitation of Children on the Internet

The 12^th Europol training course on “Combating the Sexual Exploitation of Children on the Internet”, held in Selm, Germany, at the LAFP-NRW Police Academy was concluded on 1 November 2011.

This 8-day course provided training for 64 representatives from 19 EU Member States, 9 non-EU States (Australia, Canada, Croatia, Iceland, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey and USA) and Interpol. The training was delivered by trainers from Europol, Belgium, Greece, Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, and New Zealand, all of whom have extensive knowledge and experience in investigating and combating the sexual abuse of children online. Guest speakers were invited from Interpol, Netherlands and the UK. 

The approach is collegial, with expert trainers and investigators working in the field of child sexual exploitation coming together with prosecutors and judges to network and exchange experience. The main objective of this annual course is to enhance the expertise of those working in this crime area in the EU and beyond, so that they are better able to investigate, dismantle and prosecute child sex offender networks on the internet, whilst safeguarding and respecting the rights of the children involved.

In addition to lectures ranging from perpetrator psychology and the latest online investigation techniques to international cooperation, the course programme includes a wide range of hands-on exercises with the intention of bringing law enforcement investigation standards together. By welcoming prosecutors and judges, the course aims to provide them with a better understanding of this crime, the investigation methods used and the possible constraints investigators are confronted with.

Since the first course took place in 2000, this highly respected Europol course has provided expert training to more than 500 law enforcement officers and members of the judiciary from EU Member States and from countries all over the world.