More needed to combat child porn

KUALA LUMPUR: Information on tens of thousands of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses suspected of sharing child pornography have been provided to Malaysian police over the past six years, but due to the lack of trained staff, only about 100 IP addresses have been checked so far.

Bukit Aman Sexual, Women and Children Crime Investigation Division (D11) principal assistant director Asst Comm Siti Kamsiah Hassan urged the government to increase the financial allocation and manpower for the division.

“The information received will be examined by the Malaysian Internet Crime Against Children (Micac) D11 investigation unit which currently only consists of three investigating officers with the rank of Inspector.

“As such, D11 hopes that the allocation announced by the government in Budget 2022 involving increase in manpower and financial allocation can be channelled immediately to ensure that this division can play a more effective role in tackling crimes involving children,” she told Bernama recently.

She said for the period 2017 to March this year, the police received 93,368 IP addresses suspected of being involved in the activity through the information sharing system comprising members such as the International Police Criminal Organisation (Interpol), the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Centre For Missing and Exploited Children.

However, due to its manpower shortage, the number of arrests and inspections carried out paled in comparison.

ACP Siti Kamsiah added that due to the lack of trained staff to filter and scrutinise the information received, only 103 IP addresses were checked, which led to the arrest of 50 people.

Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz when tabling Budget 2022 in the Dewan Rakyat last year, said a RM13mil allocation and 100 new posts would be provided for D11 to put a stop to any form of violence and crime against children and women.

ACP Siti Kamsiah said a working paper on D11’s plan on the allocation was submitted to the Public Service Department in March, and the division was now waiting and hoping for positive feedback.

She said with the allocation, D11 planned to set up a Micac unit in each police contingent with at least one investigating member compared to only three officers at the Bukit Aman level at present.

The requirement is necessary as browsing activities, including uploading and downloading of child pornography, have been increasing every year.

“According to the information we received, in 2017 only 46 IP addresses were suspected to be involved and this increased to 2,660 IP addresses in 2018, 9,017 in 2019, 18,508 in 2020, 48,752 in 2021 and 14,385 in the first three months of this year.

“The number of arrests also saw an increase – in 2017 to 2019, only two individuals were arrested.

“This went up to 22 people in 2020 and 24 people last year, while in the first three months of this year, two people were arrested for engaging in such activities,” ACP Siti Kamsiah said.