HEERA ALAYA

An ex-officer in charge of the child exploitation unit for the Toronto Police Service, Detective Sergeant Paul Gillespie is now the CEO of Kids’ Internet Safety Alliance [KINSA].  Detective Gillespie works with global law enforcement, travelling to the darkest recesses of depravity in the world of child abuse to rescue and spear justice for children.

Kinsa was born before you retired as the Officer in Charge of the Child Exploitation Section of the Toronto Police Service. What motivated you to start Kinsa with Bill Hutchinson?

I decided to start Kinsa as it was the logical decision to take my international work to the next level without being responsible for the hands-on investigations and fostering better relationships with industry, government, and other NGOs [non-governmental organisations].

How can the horrific crimes perpetrated against vulnerable children be termed child pornography? It will be appropriate to refer to child abuse images as child exploitation or child abuse images.

Great question. I hate the term child pornography. Pornography itself has this underlying sense that it may be something too sexual, dirty and suggestive. When people think of pornography, they think of adult pornography, but I don’t believe it does justice to these horrible images where kids are tortured.

You can use it [child pornography] as the term child pornography is in the criminal code. We have been trying to lobby to have that changed to images of child abuse or sexual assault or something different in the same way that the United Kingdom and Australia have changed in using that term.

During our conversation, we will refer to these images as child exploitation or child abuse images.

How has technology made it easy for predators to share and have access to child exploitation images?

It was overwhelming when I started KINSA. The Internet and everything that went on with the Internet exploded for most of us who were not technical. Having spent ten years with KINSA, it’s mind-boggling how companies in IT [Information Technology], software, and hardware keep coming up with great ways to share information and connect through social networking, but the second they launch systems, criminals use them to their advantage. For instance, file-sharing, where it might seem like a good idea—like when Napster started, and others followed suit—those with a sexual interest in children immediately saw the value of using these same sharing methods.

As law enforcement has moved forward in the last few years and developed techniques to watch these sexual abuse images being shared—almost look up in the sky and see these images go back and forth—with an ability to find out where they originated, the numbers are staggering. Every city in the world is sharing these horrible images. I think technology has opened an enormous window for us to see a lot of darkness on the other side.

Kinsa has developed the Child Exploitation Tracking System [CETS] with Microsoft. Is CETS currently available in languages other than English and French, and how can law enforcement agencies worldwide implement this tool?

The CETS system is an intelligence database allowing only law enforcement to work, share, store, and conduct sophisticated analysis of the volumes of information in seized computers. Currently, CETS is up and running in about ten countries. Part of the deployment process is determining which country is suitable for using it and making CETS available in their native language; for instance, we offer CETS in Spanish for Spain and Chile and Portuguese for Brazil.

How do you enlighten and encourage countries resistant to join the global movement to fight this borderless crime against children and protect children?

Often, every country has a strong will to recognise child abuse that destroys our children’s trust, who are our future. There are also parts of the world where issues relating to children and women are not a priority; it comes down to the laws of the land.

The number one challenge we have is with the justice systems in some countries and with lawyers who have set up different systems—what they will allow and to what degree they will share their information. Many countries are not permitted to share information, and many organisations will not share these [child abuse] images.

When we actively work with Interpol in international investigations, the laws of certain countries won’t share photographs with Interpol because they are child exploitation images. In contrast, we see sexual exploitation images as evidence of a crime in the same sense if we have a homicide or a bombing investigation with horrible images. We will not stop sharing the information because it’s against one’s laws. I believe this has to start with a grassroots movement; it’s useless to talk to technophobic senior decision-makers who are 50 and 60 years old; when they hear of computers and investigations, they see dollar signs flying out the window.

Are certain countries willing to overlook the criminal factor as long as it generates tourism revenue?

I will certainly acknowledge that some areas of the world are challenged by geographic and environmental conditions and other factors that lead to poverty, which leads to corruption that might be seen as “sex tourism destinations.” I don’t blame those countries; I blame Western nations that allow their citizens to travel to those countries to exploit the most vulnerable. I cannot think of anything worse than places that have just had a natural disaster, be it a typhoon, a tsunami, or an earthquake, and men from the west travel to these places and exploit these children.

Why are crimes taking place at an unprecedented rate?

Child abuse crimes have been around forever. The former head of the FBI eloquently captured it when he said: “It’s [child abuse] an age-old crime combined with modern technology.”

So crime has been around forever; we were never aware of how bad it was. The Internet—with its ability to communicate with anybody in the world, do whatever one wants, and remain anonymous without being liable or responsible—has unfortunately also given criminals the ability to exploit in any field they choose and be almost uncatchable.

We are talking specifically about child abuse. But other brutalities are rampant, too, from beating the homeless to stripping and raping women. We watch, we film, we share and we walk away. What makes us increasingly apathetic?

Well, it’s [becoming apathetic] because of different forms of mass communications, media, movies, and the Internet. Every time a bad situation occurs, somebody captures it instantaneously on video, and one watches it on TV or the Internet. Also, the exploitative nature of the movies is damaging. When I was growing up, movies were rated X or 18 or 21, and now they are rated 14A. I don’t want my kids to see such brutal violence.

I am not as worried about natural sexual activity between consenting adults; I am against the horrible brutality and the mind-numbing games that are out there. I don’t understand it, but I certainly know that is why people have less regard and perhaps less sensitivity to some of the horrible things that happen in life. Violence is in their face all the time, and when kids are growing up thinking that this is natural, how can we expect different results?

Does parenting play a role in creating a harmonious environment?

We will have a much more productive society if parents spend time raising their children. However, everybody is hurrying; everybody has communication devices, such as Blackberries or iPhones. What gets lost in technology is the time parents spend with their children. Talking to, paying attention, and being involved with children is crucial.

If your children are on the computer, explain the rules and check whether they are doing what they are told. It isn’t appropriate for a seven-year-old to do whatever he wants online. Parents need to set restrictions and, at an age-appropriate level, allow more responsibility. The Internet has changed a lot of parents; they see it as a babysitter, which is unfortunate.

We have a real problem, especially in Canada—parents have forgotten how to say no. The investment parents make in their kids will pay off many times over, but unfortunately, with two jobs and the pursuit of materialistic things, life is not the way it was. Things are allowed to change, but I don’t think it will be a bad idea to take a step back from technology and remember the important parts of our lives—our family and friends.

Do behaviour patterns within the home make children feel isolated or lonely, which draws them to the Internet?

There are two issues. First, the vulnerable children on the Internet are typically loners. Paedophiles with a particular interest in children are very good at identifying the vulnerable who will be susceptible to their charms. These paedophiles are typically going after somebody who may not have the influence of both parents in their lives, who may be lonely and shy, and who are willing to spend days, weeks, months and even years trying to groom a relationship on the Internet. 

Second, the horrible pictures on the Internet of child abuse and child exploitation are not stranger-based—the abusers are people who have the child’s trust or who are allowed to take care of the child, the father, the uncle, the coach, or the coach the priest.

 Explain the comfort of anonymity for both the criminal and the victim.

The reality of the day is that criminals can be anonymous and remain anonymous with just a little bit of sophistication. Therefore, criminals think they can commit a crime with little chance of being caught. On the other hand, a very lonely child with no friends at school gets online, and suddenly, he can have a lot of friends. And maybe he will not tell the truth about who he is and what he does. Lonely children find greater comfort and confidence in this sort of surreal life that they are inventing.

Sexual victimisation destroys a child, further creating a ripple effect on the family and society. Can you shed light on the depth and severity of sexual violence?

I have often thought of the scale of sexual violence. In the last ten years, along with others, I have been trying to get the message about the long-term effects of abuse.

Once a child is abused—other than the fact that they rarely recover their whole sense of trust–most abused children go on to make poor life decisions. Abused children turn to some substance abuse; eventually, with the help of ongoing therapy with psychologists, they try to come to grips with their abuse.

Every time I have done major press conferences, I am inundated with victims who are now in their 30s, 40s, and 60s—lawyers, police officers, and people from all walks of life who have never told anyone about their abuse. These survivors of abuse have a horrible sense of blame that it must have been their fault, and they want to know how to deal with their sexual abuse. It is often 20 or 30 years later that victims of sexual abuse can disclose the violence perpetrated against them. Sexual abuse ruins a person’s life.

If you put a financial number on it—when we look at all the medical care, the psychological care, and other expenses at the end of a lifetime—it’s almost like a cancer victim; maybe then people will start to acknowledge the magnitude of the problem.

The family unit is a very troubling dynamic. Often, it will be the father or someone very close to the family committing the abuse. And there are cases where the mother or others in the family will know, but it’s horrible that they don’t want to admit it. Family members often think that the financial situation within the family will change for the worse. Usually, the blame comes to the victim. Sexual abuse destroys human beings and the family unit. Recovering from sexual abuse is impossible.

I am trying to comprehend the vastness of sexual abuse. As I attempt to draw a map representing the ripple effect across the continents, I am overwhelmed by this [sexual] abuse’s mammoth nature that permeates every layer of life.

Exactly. A boss of mine used to say: “Think about it; every one of us knows somebody who has been abused or knows of an abuser. Just think how widespread it is, this spider web.” We need to put more time, effort, and money from all sections of society into the problem itself and find a better way to deal with it. I wish we would put significant resources into figuring out what causes men to make horrible decisions to abuse children and then find a treatment to remove that gene or that piece of DNA that causes them to abuse.

In certain cultures, like the one I come from [India], sexual abuse is kept under wraps. In the bargain, one ends up protecting generations of abuse, passing it down to future generations.

I have been to those areas of the world, and I have had general statements made to me that they don’t abuse children in their culture. I tell them to pick any city in their country, and I will show them, using our software, within 24 hours how many people have traded these horrible images of three-year-olds being raped. And I tell them we know that almost one in every two individuals who share these images are hands-on abusers.

We will show them perhaps 1,000 or 2,000 people in their city and show them all the evidence, and they will still say it must be wrong. Their culture will not allow them to admit it, maybe privately but not publicly. They have to realise that they have the same problem as everyone else. Sexual abuse is not cultural; it’s not based on population, a big city or a rural area. You can have the worst bad guy in a big city, a small city, or any country in the world. It’s a man thing; it’s an inability to control himself.

Over the years, I have watched and read reports of outright denials by abusers (men and women) claiming to be family people. Unfortunately, most predators’ families rally and support them. How does it make the victim feel? What would you like to tell families who are nurturing and enabling a criminal and, in the process, ruining lives?

First and foremost, families need to understand that by the time these people [predators] are caught, they probably have multiple victims. The fact that they would choose to believe the offender, even in the face of all the evidence, is ridiculous (I have seen this a lot.). We have videos, pictures, and statements from the plaintiff, and the entire predator’s family will blame the victim, even if the victim is a six-year-old, saying she must have wanted it. I think they [the perpetrator’s family] need a reality check.

The reality is that the predator will often have such an influence on the family, whether it’s financial stability or just a good con man, to convince them that it was not that bad. On the other side of that, you have a victim who will never be the same and never live up to their full potential.

The persisting belief is that the more significant percentage of sexual assaults are committed by men—single, economically poor, and of colour. The fact is that sexual predators could very well be women, wealthy individuals, and married people with perfectly coiffed images. 

Socio-economic conditions do not define sexual offenders—they are within the range of being poor to extremely wealthy. We find that the wealthier the offenders get, they are often able to conduct their lifestyle of abuse in a way with less fear of getting caught. Some of the worst, most organised, dangerous groups on the Internet are more educated and of a socially upper class.

The male gender—infants, young boys, and adolescents—are also sexually abused. Why are boys/men denied the platform and coverage extended to the female gender? 

Good question. The number of sexually abused boys is relatively high, not as high as girls, but almost the same. First, the challenge is that it’s tough to get a boy to disclose sexual assault or sexual abuse—especially when they get to the age of 10 to 13—because of the embarrassment. Second, maybe the sexual act felt good, and the boys were confused. Offenders are good at putting a lot of bad ideas and guilty thoughts into their minds. The majority of calls that I get are from 40 and 50-year-old men who, 35 years ago, were forced to do something and never got over the shame.

Had the sexually abused boys sought help earlier, could they have had a better quality of life?

Absolutely. Just think about how many potential doctors, scientists, prime ministers, and presidents were never allowed to fulfil their destiny because of horrific incidents that changed them forever. The sexual abuse that broke their trust caused them to start making poor life decisions, changing who they should have become; this is one of the immeasurable consequences of these horrific crimes. It drives me crazy that people don’t get this loss.

Individuals could have also developed better relationships within their families.

I will give you an example of this and the weight it puts on tiny shoulders. On more than one occasion, I received a call from a young girl who was abused horribly when she was four, five, and six years old, and her sexual abuse images were shared. We [the police] watched these children grow up on the Internet and were involved in finding and rescuing them. Then add a few years to that, and this young woman doesn’t know if she should tell her boyfriend or, later on, on getting married, tell him or show him the pictures. The young woman knows it’s on the Internet (because images never go away); that is the added stigma. To be abused as a child is just horrible. Can you possibly imagine that the most horrific time of one’s life is out there forever, and men are pleasuring themselves over this? How can life get any worse than that?

I feel utterly outraged.

It’s sad, it’s pathetic, and we don’t do justice to the victims by sugar-coating it and not calling it what it is. We do not do justice to the victims by not putting more resources into this to keep it from happening to future victims. Look at the money we are spending on several things. Let’s talk about the security around the G8–G20. If we put a fraction of those resources into preventing child sexual abuse, it will go a long way in helping us keep kids and future generations safe.

For their sanity and emotional well-being, do you provide counselling to officers assigned to view and sift through millions of disturbing child abuse images?

I was ruined forever as soon as I saw the first picture. Kinsa doesn’t provide counselling, but seven to eight years ago, in the trauma police, we started an informal and formal counselling program, which officers had to attend. We could not force them to talk, but we had to make psychiatrists and counsellors available.

In most areas of the world, including Canada, officers must undergo psychological testing before, during, and after their tenure. Kinsa trains and brings in officers from around the world to be better cyber cops. We spend half a day on health and wellness (it’s not addressed adequately). The well-being of the investigator, who spends a considerable amount of time dealing with sexual abuse images, is essential.

Are there incidents where, no matter your team’s diligence, something falls through the cracks, jeopardising the entire case?

How about [cases getting jeopardised] every day? Whether you are looking at the image itself, like a CSI behind the scenes, questioning where the evidence might lead to, where the picture was taken (to identify the offender), whether we had a complaint from the abused, we took all the statements, and in the end, nothing happened. The witness refused to testify; somebody made mistakes with the paperwork, and the judge was more sympathetic than he should have been—this is a regular occurrence. To do your best is not good enough. As a law enforcement officer, you learn that it’s not that unusual, and all you can do is act in good faith. And sometimes things are just out of your hands.

Does child sexual abuse awareness make a difference in getting society’s attention?

The awareness of child abuse is increasing. I see it the same way that AIDS was in the early 80s—it was something we didn’t talk about, and now there is global awareness. As we shine a brighter light on child sexual abuse and as law enforcement efforts around the world get much better, I am confident at some point, we will catch the most dangerous guys out there. I read this in the newspaper: “Knowing that you might be looking for me is the only thing that kept me alive.”

We need to shine the light so victims know that we aren’t going to give up and that we are going to get them out of that situation. And if they can find the strength to call somebody they trust.

What is the future of Kinsa?

My current goal with Kinsa is to help globalize the police response. Although there are no global laws, there are brilliant people out there working in special areas, and it’s the cop on the cyber beat who will be responsible for making a difference. My long-term goal is to help developing nations reach a level where they can use the Child Exploitation Tracking System (CETS).

My ultimate goal is that this database evolves into the global human trafficking system. Success will only come from a global effort and the ability to work together, which I want to help facilitate.

Your line of work is intense. What motivates you to start all over again the next day?

We are doing great work as an excellent team. We have successfully identified and rescued children, building on associations worldwide where officers can locate and rescue a child from a different country. These stories of making a difference in children’s lives and preventing abuse from future generations keep us motivated.