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Adverts are a first
29 December 2003
The National Crime Squad has taken the unique step in paying to advertise a crime reduction campaign in a national newspaper.
For the first time in its history the Squad advertised in the Sun newspaper on Christmas Eve and on 29 December, in a bid to warn internet surfers they could end up with a criminal record this Christmas.
Further adverts are expected to follow.
The adverts feature a simple message aimed at targeting those who may be looking for child abuse images on the internet and warning they could face 10 years in prison.
The move comes as part of a multi-agency Virtual Global Task Force launched earlier in December.
Working with other UK and International law enforcement the National Crime Squad has developed Operation Pin, a crime reduction initiative to combat child abuse online. It was originally developed by West Midlands Police and has now been expanded and adopted as a key international weapon in the fight against online paedophile activity.
The newspaper advertising is aimed at further raising awareness of the campaign, particularly as many gifts at Christmas will be computers. Alongside this, posters are being distributed to internet cafes across the UK to warn and deter surfers.
Assistant Chief Constable Jim Gamble, from the National Crime Squad, said: "The Internet is just another public place and will policed as such and the campaign is already having an effect. We have had calls from internet surfers concerned that they may have gone onto the site and on the flip side we have had calls from those who have had to suffer at the hands of paedophiles thanking us for taking this positive action.
"People may question why we are spending money on advertising but if the awareness of the campaign means that just one person decides not to log on then it will be worth it.
"At the end of the day, no-one can put a price on the need to protect our children and this action reinforces our commitment to tackling - with the other agencies involved - this type of crime."