The police continuously receive large amounts of images and videos captured by social media services that may constitute abuse material.
When receiving the material, which comes via an American organization, an initial thinning is done centrally to find the most serious and urgent cases – for example, videos posted by people who are suspected of having filmed their own abuse, or where the sender has children of his own or works with children.
But there remains a large amount of tips that must be checked more thoroughly in order to be able to see whether it is about the possession or distribution of abusive material, and it is the pile that has grown to 13,000 tips since 2018.
– It is unfortunate from several aspects and shows how big the problem is, says police process manager Björn Sellström.
Viral movies
The material includes, among other things, pictures and videos that have gone viral by being spread by young people.
The police’s resources have not been enough to go through all the tips continuously, but now it must be done in a special effort until the summer.
According to Björn Sellström, however, there may be a risk that suspected crimes have time to expire.
More people should be able to check
The tips have now been distributed to Sweden’s police regions, where at the same time they have expanded the circle of police employees who should be able to check abuse material – something that has provoked strong reactions.
“There is now a concern among workers, group managers and safety representatives that the change will force the workers to a job that will make them feel bad or get sick,” says a submission from a chief safety representative to the Work Environment Agency.
Björn Sellström sees it as an important discussion.
– I am humble in front of all employees who feel worried and have to take part in the material. Because it is a very nasty material many times.
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