SINGAPORE - For the past three years, she has been investigating child abuse pornography cases, and has had to watch thousands of images and video clips of children being sexually abused.

Some victims were just babies as young as six months old, and so far all the victims have been children in other countries.

But as disturbing as the material is, Assistant Superintendent of Police Jane Chen has to view every image and clip to spot invaluable clues.

And in doing so, she and her Singapore Police Force colleagues have helped to save some children abroad from their abusers.

ASP Chen is a senior investigation officer (IO) at the specialised crime branch of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

She was speaking to the media at the Cyber Guardian Lab at the Police Cantonment Complex on Thursday. The lab, which will be launched on Monday, is a dedicated space for IOs to process child sexual abuse materials.

It is ASP Chen’s job to look through graphic images and videos involving child pornography.

But even seasoned officers like her are affected by what they watch.

ASP Chen said: “The images, the videos, the sounds of struggling and the cries of the children – these remain in my mind. There are some videos of the children not even being aware that they’re being sexually abused. They’re just doing whatever the perpetrator asks them to.”

The 37-year-old officer said the experience affects her viscerally because some of these videos depict extremely violent sexual abuse. “I feel a sense of helplessness when I process these materials because the victims are children. Some of them are even toddlers and infants.”

Recalling the time when she came across footage of a six-month-old baby being sexually abused, she said: “When I see babies, it feels even worse. They’re infants who have just entered the world and they’re supposed to be protected. But in less than a year of life, they’ve been sexually tortured.”

To sift through thousands of images, investigators use various tools, including artificial intelligence (AI) software to process and filter for child sexual abuse material.

The case of Wong Ket Kok stood out for ASP Chen. He was jailed for 32 months in March 2022 after being caught with almost 47,000 electronic files containing such material.

The 55-year-old father of two downloaded child abuse pornography nearly daily over five years before he was arrested in 2020.

ASP Chen was the lead IO and had to manually go through each of the 46,946 files.

She said: “There were many videos that depicted the violent sexual abuse of children. It made me realise it was not just one or two victims. But it’s many different children from many different countries. It hits you that there are many children who need to be rescued.”

Viewing so many disturbing images can take a toll on anyone, and ASP Chen makes sure she regularly steps away from the screen.

“In general, I try to limit my viewing time for such footage to three to four hours per day. But I will take a five- to 10-minute break every hour,” she said.

In January 2020, dedicated laws were introduced to criminalise the production, distribution, advertising and possession of child abuse material.

This came after a review of the Penal Code found that the law was inadequate in tackling child pornography.

Those who distribute child sexual abuse material can be jailed for up to seven years, caned, fined, or receive a combination of these punishments.

Before that, such offenders could be prosecuted only for transmitting obscene material, which carried a jail term of up to only three months, a fine or both.

ASP Chen said images and videos will be downloaded from a suspect’s devices, and the footage will be run through an AI program that sifts out obscene material.

The material will be run through processing software to check if the videos have already been identified as child porn in Interpol’s international child sexual exploitation image and video database.

The database lets investigators know if a series of images or videos have been identified in another country.

It allows the authorities in over 68 countries, including Singapore, Australia, Thailand and France, to alert one another should a child sexual abuse case be suspected of taking place in a particular jurisdiction.

ASP Chen said such abuse has not been encountered in Singapore – so far. “This is why we need to run through every single image or video to find clues to identify where the abuse could be happening,” she said.

“Things like power outlets, which are different in various countries, and the language used by the abusers, could all be clues to help us locate the child.”

In one video they came across in late 2022, they saw an abused child in school uniform and quickly identified the school before alerting the police in that country.

ASP Chen declined to reveal the country but said the offender was arrested and the child rescued.

“It felt good to know that one child was saved. Knowing the offender, who was also harming so many others, was arrested means we saved more than just that child,” she said.

Police officers need help too

IOs who view footage of child sexual abuse may not have experienced the trauma directly, but hearing and seeing the exploited children might still affect them in some way.

Also known as secondary trauma, it can happen to the most experienced officers, said police psychologist Tiffany Danker, 28.

Ms Danker, who has been with the Police Psychological Services Department for three years, said on Thursday: “Exposure to child sexual abuse material is inherently distressing and can lead to both physical and emotional responses. Officers may experience nausea, headaches, anger, shock, numbing, and a whole range of other symptoms.”

She said IOs may also experience paranoia if they have a child who is around the age of a victim they saw in the pornographic images and videos.

They might start to worry about their child’s safety and wonder if their child would also become a victim of such acts. They might think about protective measures for their child and mull over these thoughts, said Ms Danker.

She said that if an IO suffers from trauma or has breathing difficulties and panic attacks after viewing such abusive material, her role is to walk them through grounding techniques. This involves turning their attention away from thoughts and worries and refocusing on the present moment.

“It is important to remind them they are not a victim, and they have not gone through these experiences, so they can feel psychologically safe,” she added.

ASP Chen, who is single and has no children, said she has not needed to seek help from a psychologist yet.

She added: “I have made it a point that the moment I step out of work, I will leave everything behind and not think about or dwell on what I’ve seen.

“But I am thankful there is help if I ever need it.”

Past cases

Ansari Abdul Amin

The man whom the prosecution described as having an insatiable appetite for child pornography was jailed for two years in March for downloading more than 13,600 files of child abuse material.

Ansari, 36, viewed sexual videos involving babies, girls and boys below 11 years old having sex with adults. He also traded such material with unknown users on Telegram, who publicly offered their collection of child pornography.

Boris Kunsevitsky

The Australian, 57, sexually abused dozens of boys in South-east Asia while based in Singapore, and was sentenced by a Melbourne court to 35 years’ jail in January 2020.

His offences took place over 15 years in the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia and Singapore, and involved 47 victims, five of whom were in Singapore.

He took photos of himself having sex with a boy, aged between 12 and 14, at his home in Singapore.

Amos Yee

The Singaporean blogger was sentenced by a United States court in December 2021 to six years in jail after admitting to two charges of child pornography and grooming a girl who was then aged 14.

Yee, then 23, faced 16 other child pornography-related charges, which were dismissed as part of a plea deal he accepted.

He was 20 when he solicited, persuaded and induced the victim to appear on video and pose in a lewd manner in 2019.