Episode 25 - Following the digital footprints: Inside victim identification

Do you know what a digital victim identification officer is?

In this episode of The Beat, we go behind the scenes with our very own Digital Victim Identification Officer, Ashley Crowther, who is working at the forefront of online investigations. Ashley spends his days analysing digital media, such as photos and videos, to identify and safeguard victims of child sexual abuse and bring offenders to justice.

He shares how he found his way into this specialist work and how the role has taken him beyond the UK, collaborating with policing teams in the United States, Canada and Germany. We also explore how technology and AI is used to identify victims, track suspects, and combat child exploitation in the digital world and how this is ever evolving.

Please note: This episode contains discussion around child sexual abuse and exploitation, and listener discretion is advised.

For more information and advice on the topics discussed, please visit www.staffordshire.police.uk

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Staffordshire Police. In this episode, we're continuing our focus on how we work to identify suspects and victims in child sexual abuse cases. This time we're speaking to a specialist officer who has more than 25 years' experience in the technology industry. He works as a digital forensic victim identification officer as part of our police online investigation team. Ashley Crowther, who's travelled internationally to advise police forces in Canada as well as working with colleagues at Europol and the National Crime Agency, has spent 17 years working to establish mechanisms to identify individuals in child abuse images to prevent re-victimisation and to bring offenders to justice. Welcome, Ash.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Yeah, good morning and thank you. Thank you for having me to talk about the world of victim identification and what it means.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

We know this is a highly sensitive and emotive subject, so listener caution is advised, but we're also advising listeners to be aware that the cases referenced in this episode are protected under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, which means that victims have lifelong anonymity and must not be identified. Now, Ash, most people will be aware of the nature of how child abuse imagery means that there's a whole other online world of abuse that's operating nationally and internationally on the dark web. Can you perhaps explain how your role interacts with that world and and what your role involves in terms of working to identify victims and suspects?

SPEAKER_01 1:46

Yeah, certainly that there is a whole other world out there that some child sex offenders seek to access the internet, looking to try and help facilitate and also commit those offences. My work involves looking at the media relating to the child abuse to help identify the victims primarily, and that's the goal, really, for my work is to help identify the victims. Second from that, obviously, comes to try and help identify both the suspect and the location of where these offences have taken place. Because, as we know, the internet doesn't have boundaries, and because the internet doesn't have boundaries for this type of offence, so when I'm looking to identify the victims and the suspects, this can lead me to anywhere in the world. Now, when um we're talking about that, this obviously means working closely with all law enforcement agencies here in the UK, because a lot of our victims and suspects are UK-based, but also then I seek to liaise with all law enforcement across the world to help safeguard the children and bring these suspects to justice for their crimes. Because each country's their law enforcement works slightly different. So although you can look at it and go, We're all doing a similar job, because their their laws are different, their way of working is different. So, for example, in the UK when we're grading images, we've got nine different categories of grading images. In the US, it's indecent or not. So it it's a completely different way. So when we're grading images, we've got our three main words, which is category A, B, and C, whereas in America they're all one. So the the way that they work is completely different to us. But interestingly, I'm gonna spend a week working out of GMP with the FBI because they're looking at us as market leaders in victim ID, so they want to come across and learn up from us and help them disseminate their victim packages. So we're we're sort of we are seen as a leading light really in the UK. So yeah, it's it's an ever-changing environment and it helps lead me to have some really good contacts across across the globe, really.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

And when you're looking to identify the these victims, what what do you do? What are your priorities in terms of safeguarding that?

SPEAKER_01 4:03

The priority for me, uh as I've just said as well, is that it's to identify that child. That my my main goal is to identify the child as quickly as possible, um, as they might still be being abused, uh, that whether that be actually hands-on contact offending or still being abused by the suspects and perpetrators online, so that they might still be in that place of danger. So I use various different techniques, so various bits of software, and I utilize the power of this ever-changing environment of AI, um, open source techniques, along with my Mark I eyeball, so her manual process to look through the media looking to try and get them positively identified. Um, so it's it's yeah, it's really good and very interesting.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

Ash, just tell us a little bit about how you how do you even get into a role like this? Is it's good, it's so niche.

SPEAKER_01 4:57

Yeah, it is niche. I mean, as I say, there's between 60 and 70 of us nationally. Uh I am the only one here in Staffordshire Police, and it it's come, I suppose, off a road of quite a long road of working in various different departments in the police to to build up the knowledge and the skill set. So if I go back to sort of around 2011 when I was working in the technology training team, um, helping train officing staff in everything that's techno technology-wise in force, but part of that I helped write the open source course, so finding out the information what we can about people offline. And then from doing that from a number of years, I then switched to work into the digital forensics unit, um, and I worked in the digital forensics unit for about six or seven years, and just as I was coming towards the end of working in the digital forensics unit, there was a directive that came out from the Home Office saying that every force needed a victim ID officer. So I worked closely with the the sergeant then of the Operation SafeNet about what that looks like, about in terms of job description, the training needs that that person needs for it. So we put then a job spec through and put that through then to the bosses here to look to see if we can get somebody employed in that role. Now, whilst that was going through the decision making, I actually left Staffordship because I got headhunted by a forensic software company. So I went to work for them as one of their company directors, which saw me travel the across into Canada looking at forensic software, but more importantly, about how we use that software to identify victims of child sexual abuse. Now, whilst I was doing that, the the advert then came out for the victim ID role. Um, and I suppose looking back, it was very fortuitous that it's happened, although it wasn't at the time, but my wife fell ill at the time where um I felt like I needed to be at home and not travelling around the world. So I I quit that job um and applied for the victim ID role, and which touch wood thankfully I got at the time, and and the skill set that I developed from my technology training time to working in the digital forensics time to working for the forensic software company, coupled with starting back in 2001 working in the technology industry, there's a lot of I suppose experience that I've been able to bring to the table, um, which is quite a unique set of skills really to lead me to be this victim ID officer.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

Could you tell us a bit about um how you develop the I guess the ways of thinking and and um the the mindset of being able to look at imagery and and discern um these things really?

SPEAKER_01 7:54

Yeah, so the the mindset that that I employ myself is it's I have got a bit of a technical background, but for myself I've not got anything as a university degree. Um mine's more of the working experience and working in the various different departments, and it's about having that investig investigative mindset to help lead your way, and I suppose being a little bit nosy as as to what's going on and trying to find the nuances within the media to help try and locate and decipher where it is that you are going and trying to think laterally about what is it I need to prove or disprove, and what's the best way to try and go about it. So it could be a couple of things spring to mind really. It could be the fact that the the child is being abused on a Monday evening typically, and you start to think, right, what why why is that? And then you start to speak to the relevant parties, and it happens to be that mum was always out of the house on a Monday, so then you look at the data that you've got relating to that child abuse, and you can start to break it down and go, actually, yes, most of this abuse is occurring on a Monday after seven o'clock, which would tie in with when mum's gone to work. So you try and find it and find that lateral way of thinking. Likewise, um, doing some open source, I was um I've talked to this quite a bit about some of the training sessions that I've delivered. Was there was a picture of a male stood outside, and the department there was trying to locate a time frame and the area of where that image was taken. I had to try and pick out the details in the picture to try and help me decipher where that was. I'd already got some information to lead me to a potential town, but I still didn't have an exact location. But in the background of the picture, there was a post box. So I used that post box and went to the area and plotted all the post boxes on a map because not every street has a post box. So by doing that, I was able to quickly discount a number of the roads based on what I could see in the picture, and within five minutes I got a positive idea of where that road was, and then picking out the details that are in the picture. So there was a house that got a satellite dish on there. So using Google Street View Maps, I was able to have a look at the current street view and then go back through the historical pictures and work out actually there's an image here from I think it was like 2013 where the house didn't have a satellite dish on, so I knew at that point the photo had been taken after that point in time, and then using some other data in the in the background with the trees, etc., to work out a time frame. Um, and and in that instance I used the growth pattern on conifer trees to work out when that it was likely to have been taken.

SPEAKER_00 10:48

Wow, so it's problem solving but also kind of looking for those little clues that people may not necessarily think about when they they take even normal pictures as standard photographs?

SPEAKER_01 11:00

Yeah, so if if there's a picture in the household, for example, is there something that you can see in the background? So if the photo had been taken in a kitchen environment, is there a magnet on the fridge or is there a serial packet in the background? Because if you can work out the details of that, you can then look at the companies where they've come from and look at the packaging to see when that packaging first got introduced on the market, which I think again would then give you a time frame. Or if you can work out the shadow that's being cast through the window from the sun, and you've got a date and time that's stamped in the background, then you know where the sun would be at that time of the year, so you know the angle of the house where it's pointing.

SPEAKER_00 11:43

So it's so there's there's no escape from an eagle eye like yours, really.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

I'm sure there is, but it's yeah, they're they're they're the type of nuances that we'd go and look for to try and help us prove or disprove a location, a time, um, a victim or suspect.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

How does this differ, I guess, from the pursuit of of the offender? It must be really challenging to identify these individuals when they often, by the very nature of the offending, are working to ensure that they're not identifiable?

SPEAKER_01 12:15

Yeah, the techniques that I use to identify both victims and the suspects are the same, um, where although the suspects are trying their hardest to conceal their identity, there's often the little nuances in the imagery which can help lead us to identify them, and that could be something in the media itself, such as little trinkets, um floors, ceilings, something to help try and tie that location together with other images that we've got within the case. Um so that's what we're looking to do. But you're right that they do conceal themselves, so often it's only small parts of the body that we're looking at to try and identify them possibly further.

SPEAKER_00 12:58

And you touched on it there, but um, has has the role become kind of more challenging since the introduction and and use of AI and what type of challenges does this present to you and the team?

SPEAKER_01 13:09

The use of AI has certainly made it more difficult to have a study of the media more in depth to help determine if the person in the media is actually a real person, or is it wholly generated by AI, or has it been AI adapted? So we do have to look more closely at that software. But as well as AI being used to create the media, so we've got AI to try and help fight us in that case to get the victims and suspects identified even quicker. So the AI companies with the forensic software they're helping us harness that fight so we can now process these cases quicker than ever before. We can use AI to help clean up the media to help us give the positive identification. We've even got AI now to help predict the location of where those images were being taken, as well as the age of the people in the in the actual media, and we've even got AI now to help us describe what's happening in the content. So a particular area of concern is exposing officers and staff to the media where they're having to look at it and study it, and then write that description of what's going on, so it can be really mentally challenging, but we've now got AI to help describe that media to us, so it lightens the burden of the welfare impact on officers. So we've got a lot of AI to help us, and we've even now got AI to fight AI, so we're having AI to help determine if the image and video is AI generated, so yeah, we've you've got AI for bad, but you've also got AI for good, which is a big help to us.

SPEAKER_00 14:44

Um there's also, I guess, a a wider element to this with um the the dark web kind of enabling the sharing of the imagery kind of nationally and and internationally. So, how do you work um in partnership with those other agencies and and kind of get those relationships um to to kind of lead to um positive identifications and prosecutions?

SPEAKER_01 15:14

Yeah, so nationally there's around about 60 to 70 victim ID officers nationally. So there's not a lot of us on a national basis, but what we do is we come together as one team. So if we need some help and assistance from another force, we've got the contacts there to go and help and support each other. So we'll help with each other's investigations, whether that's for the identity of the victim or the suspect or even the location. So we we come together to help each other, and we regularly have CPD events that happen, so we go to probably about three or four of those each year, and we discussed all our investigative opportunities that we've had, or some notable cases that we can help share techniques or new sites or new information to help us track and help each other's workload with that. Um, and also at these events we get people coming in from places like Europol and Interpol, and also various embassies will come and speak to us about their area of work and how they would like our data presented to them and the best channels to get that data to them. So, by doing that, again it builds up our contact and our network, but it also means that we're putting it in a format and getting to where we need it to be in each of those countries to get the victim or the suspect identified quickly. So we we we come together as one big team. So although we're residing in our own forces, we do come together like a big family, which is which is good.

SPEAKER_00 16:42

And you mentioned there, you know, all the cases that you could um uh kind of work on, and I understand it it's um 238 uh cases that you've you've worked on so far, which has led to 280 victims being positively identified. I mean, how um can you tell us a bit more about um some of the I guess notable cases that you've worked on and and what the result was?

SPEAKER_01 17:08

Yeah, sure. I mean there's certainly a lot of victims and a lot of cases that I worked on, um, and that that workload's ever increasing, we're we're only going to get busier with that. But that within there there are some cases which do stick in your mind. Um so a lot of notable cases that I could mention, but there's one in particular where the the father had been abusing his daughter for a number of years and capturing this abuse on his devices. Now, over the years that he's groomed his daughter with the abuse, it got to the point where she didn't actually come forward to alert us to the offence. It was a cloud storage company that alerted us when the media got uploaded from his devices. They obviously then reported it through, which came to us at Staffordshire Police. Now, when we went out to speak to the individuals, um she denied any of the offences taking place because she said on her own admission that she loved her father and she didn't want to get him into any trouble. But due to the serious nature that had occurred, the OIC was looking to get this mail remanded. Um, so obviously that put some time pressures on us to get the relevant, I suppose, data and relevant evidence to put together to try and get him remanded in, which I'm pleased to say that we did achieve that. But then came the long process of getting the victim on board because, as I said, that she was very protective of her father because he had groomed her so much over the years. But thanks to the very good and hard work and dedication of the OIC, that she got her on board to the point that she was going to be fully compliant with the investigation, and then obviously came the hard part of putting all the information together for the court process. So, after myself putting through a comprehensive report, um, positively identifying the child, the location, and the devices used by the offender, um, and obviously then comes the part of proving it is the offender, which I use a lot of body mapping techniques to prove it was the offender, coupled together with all the hard work that the OIC had put in to sort of tie that offender down. And please say that when we went through the court process, he got found guilty of all charges and was sent to prison for 25 years. Um, since then, further offences have come to light, um, and the OIC is still working to then get further charges put before him, which it is looking likely, which is really a testament to the OIC for the hard work that she's put in there.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

And I mean, what's the the result you're most proud of?

SPEAKER_01 19:40

That's that's difficult to say really, because each case that I work on and get a positive outcome on makes me proud as I know that I've been there for the victim to help them start that road of recovery. Uh, because obviously the it's just one point in time that is where we get the offender board to justice and we get them believed as the victim, and then the process then becomes further recovery for them. Um, but I suppose if I had to pick one, it would be the case where I had to give evidence, which is something that I'm not often required to do with the strength of evidence that we put forward. Quite often it's put in a manner where the suspect has to go guilty. So for me to be in the court process isn't isn't a usual process. So on this one case, I end up going to court with my evidence because the CPS themselves had forgot to pass my report on to the defence, so the first they knew about it was in the court process, so I got called forward. So after a consultation with the defence barrister, um the suspect was still going not guilty, which unfortunately resulted in his daughter being put through the court process, um, which obviously is not a great process for anybody to be in. Um I spent three hours in the box being cross-examined and putting forward for my evidence, which it's a difficult time to do because not only have you got the victim there, you've obviously got the offender sat there looking at you, you've got all the members of the jury on you, and then in the public gallery, we'd got members of his family who are also there looking at you. So it's quite a pressure environment that we've got. But I'm pleased to say that again, after a two-week trial, um he was also found guilty on all 23 uh sorry, all charges, and he was sentenced to 23 years. Um but it really sticks in my mind not only is it's the first time that I gave evidence, but more importantly, I was able to prove the victim's version of events and be part of that team that believes in them, and quite often it is that belief in the victim, say, look, we we believe you, we've just now got to put it across to make sure everybody else believes us. And being by their side and being that voice to bring the offenders to justice is something that is it's makes you really proud and and happy to do the job that you do.

SPEAKER_00 21:56

And is there anything um I guess on reflection that you That you see happening it kind of now in in this world in which you work, that you perhaps worry for the future in in terms of the offending and the the challenges that are presented to you from offenders trying to evade detection?

SPEAKER_01 22:14

Well, yeah, the the internet it is an ever-changing landscape with more apps, websites appearing all the time, uh, and tech companies wanting to be more protective so they're encrypting their data. Um, coupled to this, together with more advanced technology in people's homes, children having access to devices from an earlier age, um, and technology is moving on. So, although the children have these devices, the capability of what they're able to do on those devices is getting even more complex, so they're having access and unfiltered access in many times to all areas of the internet, and the dark web is obviously getting bigger, people start to have VPNs, so hiding or masking where they are in the world to try and circumvent some guidelines which some countries are putting in, for example, Australia. So they're putting blockers on saying that you've got to be a certain age to access adult websites. But if you're using a VPN to say you're in a different country, you'll you'll start to mitigate that and circumvent those problems. But for me, I feel the tech companies hold the key to the answer to this. They need to be coming and getting more on board with law enforcement, and if they were to get more on board with it, then it would enable us to get the data that's needed to help fight these types of crimes. So it's the tech companies that hold the key for me to help prevent offending online.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

And how would you kind of keep safe then or keep kind of children safe online on their devices?

SPEAKER_01 23:53

Um as a parent myself, um I would certainly be having chats with the children at all all opportunities, um, to talk to them about the dangers of each application or site that they would like to visit, talk to them about the danger of accepting friends requests of people they don't know, ensure that they are, not wanting to share any data that is going to be sensitive to anybody, in particular people they don't know, certainly don't advise that. I'd also urge the parents to have a look at the settings of their routers as well, because quite often you can put a first level of barrier there, which will prevent certain content coming through to the household which isn't warranted. You can even then go one step further about locking down certain devices that are on your network. So, although you could have access to over 18 sites, then you can limit each individual device so that they can't in turn. So I'd urge people to have that. As well as that, I would go through and have the occasional what I'd call a digital spring clean. So go through your social media sites that you've got yourself and your children's and have a look. Are all the posts I've put? Are they still sort of at the forefront? Do I still need to have them on there? Can I remove them? Go through your friends lists and help remove those again because as the world changes, so our friendship circles change, and there might be some people on there that you think, actually, I'm not worried about them. I don't need them to see everything that I'm posting online now, so we could perhaps remove those from it all. So have those and have those honest chats with the children about it as well, as well.

SPEAKER_00 25:32

And would you post knowing what you know and working in the world that that you work in, would you kind of post images of say your own children online? Or I mean what would your advice be to people who are kind of concerned about that?

SPEAKER_01 25:46

Yeah, um yes, I do post pictures of my children online, um, but I'm very careful about the information that is available to see on there. So in my privacy settings, I'd monitor. And so I'd be careful about the images that I am putting up there about what is that digital footprint looking like for it all. Um so just and and have the conversation with the children as well about the apps that they're using, take an interest in them because you might not necessarily need that site or the application yourself, but your child would like to go on there. So take time yourself to study what it is, what it looks like, how it interacts, so you can then be better aware of what they're doing and the dangers that they're doing. I'd also, again, as I say, just check your privacy settings. Um, and if you're posting anything about going away for the day or the weekend or on holiday, think about the terminology that you're using. Because if you're putting that we are having a nice time on holiday, then everyone that sees that post know that you're not at home, so therefore you're potentially putting your property at a place of danger. Whereas if you put the post as we've had a good time on holiday, people don't know if you're on holiday or if you're not on holiday. Again, so it's just about being aware, really.

SPEAKER_00 27:06

Most people will be be thinking, kind of listening to this, you know, gosh, what a um an incredibly kind of taxing, kind of mentally taxing role that you that you have, um and would I guess feel as though they'd find it very difficult to uh maintain that emotional distance um from what you're kind of seeing and dealing with on a daily basis. What are your um kind of coping strategies, I guess, and and how do you combat those kind of things that you're you're seeing and having to work on?

SPEAKER_01 27:44

It is difficult. Um firstly, we obviously get good welfare support from the force where I have to go and see them every three months to make sure that I'm okay and I can still continue in my role. But from that also comes a lot of reflection, a lot of understanding for myself, knowing that I'm looking at some very awful media and knowing that it will affect me, it does affect me and it will continue to affect me. So having that realisation that it will and it does, it can help get my head around it and put in some coping mechanisms to help with that. And I must say, the support network that I've got from my colleagues in the the Polit team, uh as well as my family with my wife and children, it they're very supportive. Um, we do speak a lot and very openly in the office about cases and about how it's affected us. Um, so having that support from people um it's a great solace, really, about it all. I also do a lot of training courses, so I teach the people in Staff Police and other UK law enforcement agencies about the child abuse images. So talking to them about what that looks like and about the how it will affect them mentally and delivering those courses is a constant reminder for me about how it does affect people. So I get a lot of solace from that and I get a lot of welfare from that myself talking, and I speak very openly about it myself on those courses about how this media has affected me and how it's changed my outlook about certain situations and places that I go, so I do have that, which is good. But to help with that, I I like my fitness, so I like going running or I like going on walks in all weathers, which is lucky with the start of the year that we've had. Um, so it's a great way to switch off. Uh, and uh one of the big things I do is I like playing football, which allows me to completely distance myself from everything work-related. Um, so for that hour and a half a week, my mind is just elsewhere.

SPEAKER_00 29:46

What would you um suggest or advise people that are kind of listening to this and thinking that they have concerns about a child or have um suspicions relating to a potential offender or just feel I guess uncomfortable in that in a scenario they may have encountered?

SPEAKER_01 30:11

Yeah, firstly, I would I'd urge anybody who's got any concerns for uh a child or an individual, um whether that be for victim-related or suspect, is to speak up about it. Speak to the relevant parties and and voice your concerns. That those concerns they they might come to nothing, but it's better to speak up and report it and get it looked into because there's nothing worse than thinking about something and not doing anything about it, and then later finding that that person is a suspect or that person is a victim, and they needed it, and they needed you to be that person to be the voice for them. Um so I'd certainly say voice it, speak up about it, and then let the relevant parties do the the checks that we can do both on the intelligence networks that we've got internally and externally, and get to the bottom of it to make sure that that we're getting the right people in the right place, and so speak about it and report it through, um, because there's no better feeling than helping protect the most vulnerable people in our communities.

SPEAKER_00 31:15

And what would you say is the I guess the the biggest um and most helpful way that people can protect themselves from this this type of material or falling victim to um kind of um offenders online? What would you suggest to to perhaps parents or um young people that are listening?

SPEAKER_01 31:36

Um as we've touched on about earlier on with your digital media space, is certainly have your privacy settings set to the high. Do not share any media um at all that you're uncomfortable with. That um be careful about the media that you are doing because obviously we've seen AI now where we can take somebody's innocent media and then turn it into indecent media with it. So just be just be really careful about what it is you want to share. And I always use the the rule of would my nan want to see that photo? So before I post any photo, it would be would my nan like to see it? And if the answer is my nan would probably be horrified by that photo, then it's probably right that we don't share that photo, and that could be something innocent as that your child's first bath, for example, um, and we want to share those moments of our lives, but do we need to share it on social media? So is there some things that we want to take the photo of, but commit it to just the memory that we've got on our own devices? Do I need to put it on the internet and just be wary of that and be a wary of that the setting um is everything on show in that photo, or can I create a bit more bubbles with the bubble bath or put some toys in the bath so we're covering the sensitive areas, so again, those those images aren't being shared anywhere.

SPEAKER_00 33:00

Thank you, Ash. It was very interesting to kind of hear your perspective and hear about your your role. I think um the most important thing for us to, I guess, um, get out there and reflect as we finish the podcast is um if you're if anyone is worried about um someone that they know being involved in this type of criminality or a child being perhaps hurt or abused in this way, um do report it to us. Call us on 101, use live chat on our website, or call 999 in an emergency. There are a wealth of different agencies who work with us in policing to help victims of child sexual abuse. Um, for more information on agencies that could help you, please access our website and get in touch with us. Um thank you, Ash.

SPEAKER_02 33:49

Thank you for listening to the Beat Podcast produced by Staffordshire Police. To learn more about the topics discussed in the episode, including sources of information, help and support, please visit the Staffordshire Police website. If you'd like to get involved or have any questions, you can do so by emailing the beatpodcast at staffordshire.uk. Please remember this is not a suitable place to report information about crime or safety concerns. You can do that by calling 101 or reporting via our website.