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When a suspected paedophile is arrested, specially trained officers are given the task of sifting through any indecent images that have been seized.

Categorisation of these horrific images is an important step in bringing the suspect to justice, as it determines the seriousness of the offence.

When images are found by the police, they must also count the amount found, but as there can be millions, there are grading thresholds in place that are enough to secure a charge.

This means that officers can, in some instances, stop counting the images once they reach the threshold.

But if there is a possibility a victim could be identified - every image must be counted, no matter how many there are.

Here's what you need to know:

What are grading thresholds?

The national grading guidelines have been around a couple of years and they apply to all cases.

The guidelines advise that there is no additional sentencing for grading images above the thresholds as they are considered by the courts as a large amount.

Reducing the exposure of these horrific images protects the welfare of officers too.

What are the categories of indecent images?

Category A: These images are the worst of their kind. They include any sexual activity with a child under 18 – with penetration.

Category B: Any sexual activity with a child under 18 – without penetration.

Category C: Any other image that doesn’t fall between A and B (e.g. an image of a naked child)

What are the thresholds for these categories?

Category A: 150 images.

Category B: 300 images.

Category C: 3,000 images.

Even one image is enough to secure a charge – particularly if the images are category A and where there is an identifiable victim.

Who is given the task to sift through these images?

Cleveland Police is victim focused and has specially trained victim identification officers working for them.

These officers search for evidence that the images have been taken by an offender or if there is possibility the force could identify a victim, if there is then every image is viewed no matter how many there are.

Are images over the threshold counted too?

Yes. Images extracted from devices such as phones and computers are run through a child abuse database of images, known as CAID.

CAID grades images automatically – it has a database of already graded images from law enforcement throughout the UK.

The number of images graded by CAID are often over the threshold and CAID tends to grade around 50% of the images found.

Are there any thresholds in relation to prohibited or extreme images?

Prohibited images are cartoons whereas e xtreme images include bestiality, severe mutilation or pain.

In regards to these prohibited images, there are no thresholds.

What are police saying?

A Cleveland Police spokeswoman said: “Cleveland Police adheres to the guidelines set nationally and officers will prosecute wherever possible to tackle those involved in the making, possession and distributing of indecent images.”

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