AFP appeals for public’s help to solve child abuse cases

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Australian Federal Police are asking the public for help to solve child abuse cases, releasing censored images to see if any new leads can be found.

Transcript

00:00 As part of National Child Protection Week, the Australian Federal Police have released

00:05 a series of images that they believe may help to identify the victims of historic child

00:10 sex abuse.

00:11 The four images are non-confrontational and are rather distinctive, with the first one

00:15 showing a room with a fireplace and the others showing a bed frame with a radio system built

00:19 in, with rooms having yellow curtains and brick walls.

00:23 Police believe the victims who would recognise the photos are now adults and are calling

00:27 on other members of the public such as tradespeople or real estate agents who may also recognise

00:31 the objects in the photos to come forward.

00:34 Authorities discovered the photos from the internet and the dark web and are confident

00:37 that they're all places from Australia.

00:40 Australian Federal Police Commander Helen Schneider says no clue no matter how big or

00:44 small will help them to track down these victims of sex abuse or offenders as well.

00:49 I'm asking you to go onto the ace.gov.au website and look at these objects and see if you can

00:55 identify them or if you hold any information about these objects.

01:01 The slightest piece of information can lead to assisting a vulnerable victim, identifying

01:07 new victims or potentially the arrest of an offender.

01:11 What's really important for the AFP is to make sure that victims feel that they are

01:15 safe and will be supported when they come forward, not only in making a report to police

01:20 but in terms of any future investigation.

01:23 The Commander also said that it's important for people to remember that the people who

01:27 may live in these houses now may actually have no links to the abuse at all.

01:30 The images have been released as part of their Stop Child Abuse and Trace an Object campaign

01:35 which was first launched in 2021 and has resulted in over 900 tip-offs so far.

01:40 These images and more information are available on the Australian Centre to Counter Child

01:45 Exploitation website under the Trace an Object link.

01:48 Here, members of the public are able to remain anonymous or put their name and phone number

01:53 to help authorities track down these victims and offenders of child sex abuse.

01:57 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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