170 leads were also sent to the Victims Identification Task Force 7

Between the 16 and 25 October, the 20th edition of the Europol Combating Online Sexual Exploitation of Children (COSEC) course gathered 64 investigators from 55 agencies and 35 countries*.

The diverse team of 14 trainers from different countries and organisations** focused on the new and emerging technologies. The training course was organised and funded by Europol and hosted at the LAFP North Rhine-Westphalia police training college in Germany.

The training course also led to real results including cooperation on an international live distant child abuse investigation, the tentative identification of two victims and 170 leads sent to the Victims Identification Task Force 7.

Since the year 2000, over 1 000 investigators have been trained at this annual course.

Europol’s Deputy Executive Director Will van Gemert said: “It is essential to provide training for police investigators working on combating child sexual abuse online. Investigators dedicate themselves to identifying victims of child sexual abuse and stop those that victimise them even more each and every time an abuse picture is shared online. Europol is committed to giving these investigators the tools and knowledge to effectively combat child abuse online, safeguard the victims and help protect the innocence of other vulnerable children.”

*27 EU Member States (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, UK) and 9 third-party countries (Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Iceland, New Zealand, Norway, Serbia, Singapore, Switzerland).

**Belgian Federal Police, Croatian Police, Europol, Faroe Island Police, French National Gendarmerie, Geneva Cantonal Police, INHOPE, INTERPOL, Italian Postal Police, Lucy Faithfull Foundation, Portuguese Judicial Police, Spanish Guardia Civil and Spanish National Police.

